BUSINESS operators in the northern Illawarra are invited to take part in a survey to gauge sentiment and update Wollongong City Council’s understanding of specific challenges in the sector.

The 2024 Wollongong Business Survey is open until Monday 16 September.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the city has seen unprecedented jobs growth since the adoption of the Economic Development strategy, creating 10,000 additional jobs in the last five years, doubling the amount of the previous decade.

“In 2022, businesses told us they wanted procurement support and promotion to attract investment to the region,” Cr Bradbery said.

“In response, we ran a successful ‘Doing Business with Council’ procurement event in May 2023. We’ve also been busy promoting the region’s capabilities to attract new investment interest through the Invest Wollongong partnership with NSW Government and the University of Wollongong.”

Council general manager Greg Doyle said this year’s survey will build on learnings gathered in the 2022 and 2018 iterations.

“Two years on from the last survey, we understand business is operating in a more challenging macroeconomic environment with the impact of cost-of-living pressures and rising interest rates,” Mr Doyle said.

“This is an opportunity for Council to gauge local business sentiment and update our understanding of the specific business challenges.”

Information collected through the survey will also inform Council’s new Community Strategic Plan by looking ahead at future business and investment opportunities for Wollongong over the next 10 years.

“We have had impressive participation rates of 200-300 businesses per survey, and we hope to see similar, if not better participation rates this year, so we can paint a more accurate picture of the current priorities of our local business community,” said Mr Doyle.

Operators of Wollongong based businesses large and small are encouraged to complete the SURVEY HERE before Monday 16 September 2024. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, and a summary of the data will be shared with the public.

Council said to protect the privacy of local businesses, all data collected from the survey will remain anonymous. More information is available at Council’s privacy policy.

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