From CommSec:
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released trend (annual average) data on regional labour markets. Unemployment rates remain high across regional Queensland and remain low across many Sydney regions. Unemployment has averaged just 2.7 per cent in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney over the past year…
The region with the highest unemployment rate on average over the past year has been the “Queensland Outback”. The jobless rate of 13.7 per cent is the highest in around 17 years of records. Still it is important to note that there would greater uncertainty about the data given low sample sizes. Mandurah in Western Australia is next at 10.5 per cent from Townsville at 9.7 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, the jobless rate averaged 2.7 per cent in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs in the year to July, from Sydney’s Northern Beaches (2.8 per cent) and Riverina (3.3 per cent).
The data does highlight the strength of the NSW economy at present – especially the housing-driven Sydney economy.
Encouragingly the inner city of Brisbane (3.7 per cent) and Perth inner city (3.8 per cent) are amongst the regions with the lowest unemployment rates across the country.
