March 23, 2017
Unemployment in the South Burnett has fallen by 0.4 per cent in the year to December 2016, according to new data released by the Department of Employment.
In the latest edition of its Small Area Labour Markets report, the Department says the South Burnett’s unemployment rate dropped from 9.7 per cent (1324 people) in December 2015 to 9.3 per cent (1321 people) in December last year.
At the same time, the region’s workforce grew by 567 to 14,253.
Gympie saw its own unemployment drop from 9.7 per cent (2013 people) to 9.1 per cent (1976 people) in the same period, while its labour market grew by 850 to 21,596.
Toowoomba also did well, with unemployment dropping from 4.8 to 4.3 per cent (3442 people), while its workforce expanded by 904 to 79,533.
The Department noted that unemployment had decreased in the majority of Australia’s local government areas in the past year.
They said that 53.3 per cent recorded a fall in their unemployment rate in the year to December 2016, up from 35.5 per cent the previous year.
The best performers were Muswellbrook in NSW (down by 6.8 percentage points to 5.6 per cent), Halls Creek in Western Australia (down by 4.7 percentage points to 30.2 per cent) and West Daly in the Northern Territory (down by 4.1 percentage points to 10.4 per cent).
However, large increases were recorded in Northam in Western Australia (up by 3.8 percentage points to 11.6 per cent) and Latrobe in Victoria (up by 2.9 percentage points to 11.2 per cent).
The Department also said that in December 2016, 40.3 per cent of local government areas recorded an unemployment rate of less than five per cent compared with 39.9 per cent in the previous year, while 10.3 per cent recorded an unemployment rate of 10 per cent or higher, down from 13.4 per cent in the previous year.
They also noted that significant differences exist at a State level, with 47.5 per cent of Victorian local government areas recording an unemployment rate below five per cent, compared with just 20.5 per cent in Queensland.
The latest data suggests the South Burnett will need to create 600 new full-time jobs to drive the region’s unemployment rate below Brisbane current unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent.
