Mining boom boosts employment figures

NEW figures show Ballarat's unemployment rate has dropped by 1.4 per cent over the past year ending June 2008.According to figures from the June quarter 2008 edition of Small Area Labour Markets publication, Ballarat-South recorded the highest unemployment rate for the local area in June 2008 at 7.7 per cent.Ballarat-Central followed on 7.2 per cent with Ballarat-Inner North on 6.6 per cent. Ballarat-North had the lowest unemployment rate for the area at just three per cent. BEST employment assistant area manager Craig Cullinan said the local labour market had experienced a "pretty buoyant period". "It's as good a time for people looking for work as it has been for some time," he said.Mr Cullinan said the mining boom in the west had an impact on the labour market with some movement interstate and also a backfill of jobs in the eastern states. He said the Ballarat figures reflected what they had been seeing in the market for the past 12 months. "We have actually had a lot of activity from employers," he said. Ballarat MHR Catherine King welcomed news of the drop in unemployment rates. "These figures show that, despite a national economy slowing as a result of global factors and interest rate rises under the former government, there is still cause for optimism that our jobs market is holding up pretty well," she said. "I also understand that many Ballarat families are doing it tough, and that some local people are still finding it hard to find work."