However, experts within the region say the Riverina's economy still has to work through issues like youth unemployment, high business costs and a skills shortage.

Consulting firm SGS Economics and Planning has recorded the rate of labour underutilisation - people not getting as many work hours as they want - in the Riverina has fallen from 13.9 per cent to 10.6 per cent between 2007 and 2019.

During the same time period, areas of regional Queensland and northern NSW have seen four to eight percentage point increases.

SGS principal Terry Rawnsley told The Daily Advertiser that the Riverina had been able to make steady progress on underemployment rather than being hit by a boom-and-bust cycle.

"Some of those places in Queensland that have gone in the wrong direction between 2007 and 2019 have been riding high on a mining boom in 2007," he said.

"Everyone was busy and there were stories that KFC couldn't find workers because everybody was working in the mines.

"In [the Riverina] there was not quite the same boom 10 years ago...regional centres are picking up migration from the larger cities and Wagga has benefitted from Canberra's economy as well in a kind of ripple effect."

The Riverina's labour underutilisation was also lower than in the Murray and Central West regions, which recorded rates of 12.6 and 12.3 per cent respectively.

Mr Rawnsley said the Riverina's underemployment rate could rise in the short term as the economic damage from drought and bushfires took hold.

"In the next three to four months there is going to be a lot of money sucked out of regional areas through loss of property and loss of tourism dollars," he said.

"It probably be another six months until the insurance money is paid out, tradies are identified and the reconstruction starts happening, and that's when you see people re-engaged in the workforce.

"Also there is the ongoing drought that will keep upwards pressure on labour underutilisation but if rains come at the right time it will be a real positive for places like the Riverina and if they can get a good crop going in the next 12 months it will put more money in the economy and people will be working extra hours."

NSW Business Chamber Murray-Riverina regional manager Andrew Cottrill said there were still some major underlying issues with the economy.

"It's great to see that our region has improved over time but underemployment is still a largely unreported issue," he said.

"We have been calling on the government to implement some strategies that make help businesses more efficient and the first issue is that our vocational education and training system is really underperforming.

"We have got to see some changes that see more young Australians through apprenticeships and traineeships system rather than send them off to university."

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Mr Cottrill said too many young people were going to university and then dropping out rather than being able to take advantage of job opportunities through vocational training.

"Secondly, the cost imposts of energy is really holding businesses back," he said.

"Power prices have more than doubled over the last four or five years but the NSW Business Chamber released a report just before Christmas that indicated that by 2025 we won't have sufficient gas in NSW to meet demand and prices will further skyrocket.

"Businesses are having to wear these costs but their revenues are not increasing which makes it much harder to keep employees on full-time when you are bearing additional costs for energy."

Mr Cottrill also called on the federal and state governments to accelerate their planned infrastructure projects in regional NSW to stimulate the economy and create jobs.