Shift in South Burnett youth unemployment rate

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the youth unemployment percentage in the Wide Bay Burnett region has shifted.

JOB SEEKERS: Youth unemployment figures have changed over the past year in The South Burnett. Picture: Michaela O'Neill

ACCORDING to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the youth unemployment rate in the Wide Bay Burnett region has shifted.

The data is as of January 2019 and all calculations were based on pre-rounded figures. The youth unemployment rate referred to persons between 15 and 24 years old.

The Wide Bay Burnett region of Queensland included Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Maryborough, Kingaroy and the remainder of The South Burnett.

The youth unemployment rate in Wide Bay Burnett Region has gone from 28% (January 2018) down to 19.8% (January 2019).

This means the Wide Bay Burnett Region youth unemployment rate has dropped by 8.2% since January 2018.

According the bureau, the Queensland youth unemployment rate has also shifted.

It has gone from 13.3% (January 2018) down to 12.8% (January 2019).

This means the Queensland youth unemployment rate has dropped by 0.5% in the past year.

Despite this drop there are still 161,000 Queenslanders who have struggled to find a job.

The Queensland Outback had the highest youth unemployment rate of all the state areas at 24.6%.

However, they also had the largest percentage decrease.

The Queensland Outback youth unemployment rate has gone from 62.1% (January 2018) down to 24.6% (January 2019).

This was a decrease of 37.4% in the Queensland Outback youth unemployment rate from the past year.

The Queensland Outback region included Cape York, Weipa, Mount Isa, and Longreach.

The Australian youth unemployment rate was sitting at 11.2% as of January 2019, and the overall Australian unemployment rate was at 5.1% (January 2019).

These statistics were based on data taken from the bureau's monthly publication, Labour force: Australia, detailed. The statistics provided a summary based on a 12 month moving average of the unemployment rate.

The State Government Statistician's Office has also put together a report from statistics which was released on February 28.