CLUE (Census of Land Use and Employment)

The Census of Land Use and Employment (CLUE) is a unique and valuable research tool that can help you make informed, effective and efficient decisions for your business.

CLUE provides comprehensive information about land use, employment and economic activity across the entire City of Melbourne.

If you have an interest in the City of Melbourne, CLUE online provides information on a range of economic and business activities such as:

• Industry structure and type (ANZSIC code and number of establishments or business locations);
• Floorspace type and use (Office, retail, industrial, accommodation, entertainment, office vacancy rates etc);
• Employment type and status (Full time, part time, casual, contractor, male & female);
• Building information (Number of floors, gross floor area, lettable area, etc);
• Venue and capacity measures (café seats, education seats, child care spaces, rooms, off street car parking spaces, residential dwellings, student dwellings, student beds, theatre/ stadium seats, conference & meeting seats, gaming machines etc);
• Spatial distribution (Maps, CLUE blocks, regions and suburbs).

How CLUE works

Council conducts a census of all businesses in the municipality every two years.

This enables businesses, council and other stakeholders to answer a range of questions:

• How does the City function?
• What does it consist of? (i.e. building types, floorspace usage, business activities)
• What sort of business and industries are located in the City and how fast are they growing?
• What are the key trends in employment growth, business and development and residential sector expansion?

Produced by the City of Melbourne’s City Research Branch, CLUE can be used to support Council’s business planning, policy development and strategic decision making.  It is also an important tool for the general public including investors, consultants, students, urban researchers and property analysts as well as being an important tool for businesses, as it can provide a better understanding of customers and the market place.

CLUE data is collected, checked, analysed, and reported via a Microsoft Access database.  Development of this system commenced in 1994 and has since gone through a variety of improvements and refinements, including map based and online reporting.

Participation is confidential and no published results of the Census will provide any more detail about any individual business than what is readily available as public knowledge. The participation of all businesses is vital to the success of the Census. See the evolution of CLUE for more information.

Using the links on the left hand side of this page you can:

• Find information on recent trends in the city;
• Obtain free reports on 2006 CLUE data or request customised information;
• Obtain maps to show the spatial distribution; and
• Find terms and definitions for you to use when interpreting our research.

If you have any further questions or wish to offer some feedback, please call the City of Melbourne on (03) 9658 9658 or email clue@melbourne.vic.gov.au