Employment and labour workforce figures positive for NW Victoria
Published on 18 February 2015
The number of people finding work in North West Victoria has jumped significantly according to the Department of Employment’s latest figures, with the Mildura Rural City Council area seeing an increase of over 15% in the last four years.
With significant developments (classified as having a value of $1m or more) topping almost $300m over the last three years “it is no surprise that the Department of Employment recent figures show that unemployment rates have dropped from an estimated 8.8% in the December 2010 quarter to 7.1% in the September 2014 quarter,” says Andrew Millen, Council's Manager Development Services.
Recent figures provided by the Department of Employment have shown a diverse range, 0% to 15.8% in workforce labour numbers across Local Government areas in the Loddon Mallee over the last 4 years.
The number of people in the Mildura LGA labour force has increased by 3837 from 24,331 in December 2010 to 28,168 in September 2014, which has the highest estimated increase of 15.8% in both North West Victoria and the Loddon Mallee.
In comparison, Bendigo’s unemployment rate has remained constant at 7.4%, whilst people in the labour force have increased from 52,798 to 58,140 over the same four year period, which is an increase of 10.1%.
Mildura Rural City Council Mayor Glenn Milne said this is fantastic news for the region.
“Mildura as a Local Government Area falls into the North West Victoria sector of the study which includes areas such as Swan Hill, Buloke, Yarriambiack and West Wimmera,” Cr Milne explained.
“All LGA’s in our region have experienced employment growth and with this, we have the added benefit of labour force growth.”
“There are some great flow on effects because of the growth in the workforce. People are moving to our region to take up employment opportunities, which means they are looking for places to live and are bringing their families and friends with them,” Cr Milne said.
“As a community, we need to ensure our infrastructure and services are of a standard that attracts people and makes them stay in our region long-term. We need to make sure everything that makes a city an attractive lifestyle option is available here, including great access to education, health and social services.”
Cr Milne said that while the figures were fantastic, the community still need to work on getting the overall unemployment levels down and finding ways to get long-term unemployed people back into the workforce.
“Let’s not forget we still have a large number of people looking for work in our region and it’s important we provide training and support for those groups as well.”
More information and full details are available online at www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication
ENDS
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