The WEROC region covers an area of 43,136km² in the Eastern Wheatbelt, encompassing six Local Government areas. The estimated resident population of the WEROC region is 7,412 (ABS Census 2016). Merredin as the largest town within the WEROC region, acts as a regional hub for government, population services and commerce.
The WEROC area is a region of small businesses with 52.4% of registered businesses being non-employing and a further 44.8% employing less than 20 people. Agriculture is the largest industry by volume of registered businesses and is also the principal industry of employment across much of the WEROC region. While agriculture is still an important employer, within the Shires of Yilgarn and Westonia mining (gold and iron ore) is the largest industry of employment.
The WEROC regions Gross Regional Product (GRP) is estimated at $1.335 billion (19.5% of the total GRP for the Wheatbelt).
At an estimated $1.67 billion, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector is the largest value-added contributor to the Wheatbelt Region’s economy. With a contribution of approximately $138million, the WEROC region accounts for 8.3% of the total value-add in Agriculture for the Wheatbelt. Mining is the second largest value-added contributor to the Wheatbelt economy with an estimated value of $879.1 million. In the WEROC region, mining is the largest value-add industry at an estimated $673.3million, accounting for 77% of the mining value-add for the entire Wheatbelt region.
