Ballarat’s employment numbers are up.
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But while the state government has trumpeted an apparent drop in the number of unemployed people the opposition has gone on the attack over youth unemployment.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics employment data for April and the previous quarter came out this week, and the state government says it is good news for Ballarat.
The state government says Ballarat’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.2 per cent to 5.9 per cent in the last three months.
But the monthly data is different, putting the overall unemployment rate for April at seven per cent, up from 4.5 per cent in March.
Newly arrived Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan said the results were strong across regional Victoria.
“It’s fantastic to see significant job growth in Bendigo, Ballarat and Shepparton, and we hope this trend continues,” he said.
“Today’s numbers show that the Andrews Labor Government is committed to creating jobs and bolstering our regions.”
Upper House MP for Western Victoria Joshua Morris said the government had ignored a drop in jobs for young people.
“The latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows youth unemployment has increased by 2.3 per cent to 17 per cent since Daniel Andrews came to office in December 2014,” he said.
“Under Daniel Andrews, Ballarat now has the highest youth unemployment rate in Victoria.”
“The number of young people enrolling in training locally to get the skills they need to find work is also declining.”
In same time period, overall unemployment has wavered, but sat at 7.1 per cent in Ballarat 2014.
The ABS warns of a high sampling variably in the Ballarat data, making it untrustworthy in any case.
For example, this week’s release indicates almost 2000 people were newly employed between March and April, after 1300 lost their jobs between February and March in this region alone.