The Orana region's economy will be "buffered" from the COVID-19 pandemic by industries going gangbusters, suggests Megan Dixon.
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Mrs Dixon, Regional Development Australia Orana's director of regional development, points to agriculture, healthcare, mining, and education and training, when declaring "we are very robust in terms of our economic pie".
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She acknowledges the plight of the hardest-hit industries in the region, including retail, accommodation and food, arts and recreation.
But the director notes job numbers and the wages they inject into the economy don't always align.
Mrs Dixon offers the example of retail which "employs something like 4800 people in the region", making it the third highest sector for employing people.
"But it's actually number six in terms of wages it generates," she said.
The list of industries with most employees in the region begins with agriculture, followed by healthcare, retail, education and training, public administration and safety, construction, accommodation and food, and mining.
"But mining as an example is number three when it comes to wages," Mrs Dixon said.
The director said healthcare was the region's biggest sector overall.
"It's the second biggest sector in terms of the number of people and also our biggest sector in terms of wages," she said.
Mrs Dixon said healthcare was one of the booming industries which together would serve as an economic buffer.
"We have a growing health sector and that's not going to slow down," she said.
"They are expanding their job numbers.
"Agriculture is definitely in recovery and that rain we're having helps that along.
"Mining is quite a strong sector in the region and it offers quite a diverse range of work opportunities.
"Most of the mines are advertising at the moment for staff.
"Education and training is a strong sector for us as well."
Mrs Dixon expects the return of "business tourism" will get accommodation and food outlets back up and running.
"It's the reps who travel into the region and people coming in for business events," she said.
"In Dubbo our accommodation and food services are very much driven by the business traveller, more so than the leisure traveller.
"We have a strong leisure market because of the zoo but that is around school holidays and particular events that occur in the region."
Mrs Dixon said not all the retail industry was in the doldrums.
"In retail there are some sectors which are actually strong, like hardware," she said.
