Charting the city-country employment divide

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ScreenHunter_4299 Sep. 18 17.04

By Leith van Onselen

Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its detailed monthly labour force statistics, which includes breakdowns of employment and unemployment across Australia’s capital cities and regions.

According to this release, the unemployment rate in Australia’s capital cities was 5.7% in August in raw terms, down 0.1% from July. By comparison, unemployment in Australia’s rural and regional areas was 6.5%, which was unchanged from July. The below chart, which is presented on a rolling 12 month average basis to smooth volatility, illustrates the trends in unemployment between capital city and regional areas:

ScreenHunter_4302 Sep. 18 17.09
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.