The Gunner government is promising to tackle static population growth in Tuesday's budget after a major report ranked the Northern Territory as the nation's second-worst economy.
The region has experienced 29 consecutive negative quarters of interstate migration - more than four years - meaning only new births are stopping the population shrinking.
The quarterly CommSec State of the States report released on Monday ranked the NT seventh of the eight states and territories, citing weak population growth and falling employment.
New dwelling starts were down 37.4 per cent on decade averages, by far the nation's lowest.
"What we've got to do is create more jobs so we have more people here and we can all keep moving towards that bright future," Chief Minister Michael Gunner told Mix radio.
"We know there are a lot of projects on the horizon, we are going through this difficult transition phase from Inpex and it's construction phase into those other projects."
Tuesday's budget would include "significant announcements around population growth", Treasurer Nicole Manison said, following research with Charles Darwin University.
The government has already flagged some plans to boost the economy, including a gradual roll-out of cyclone-proof underground power in Darwin that will take 30 years to complete and a $40 million underground car park.
It also hopes that its recent controversial lifting of a ban on fracking will eventually spark an onshore gas boom now that the construction phase of the $37 billion-plus Inpex project has nearly ended.
However it also flagged harsher measures aimed at saving $800 million, with cuts to the public sector - a major Darwin employer - including 200 voluntary redundancies, lower pay rises and a decrease in funding.
It has also announced a new land levy for vacant properties aimed at compelling owners to develop buildings in the CBD and a new royalties scheme that has already been opposed by the mining and gas lobbies.
NT opposition leader Gary Higgins said the Labor government wasn't spending the money it had committed to infrastructure, costing investment and jobs.
The Master Builders Association NT executive director Dave Malone was critical of the government, predicting it would not get close to the $1.75 billion infrastructure investment it had forecast for this year.
