More than 20 people applying for every job in Geelong as construction, health, logistics expected to boom
About 23 people on government handouts are jostling for each advertised job in the Geelong region, Labor analysis reveals.
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Labor’s analysis of July jobs data shows about 23 people on government handouts are jostling for each advertised job in the Geelong region.
There were 1089 vacancies in the Greater Geelong and Surf Coast region while 24,683 people were on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance in the month.
Corio MP Richard Marles said Geelong was experiencing a “jobs crisis” because the ratio of those seeking work was above the 13:1 ratio in Australian capital cities.
Marianne Messer, who tracks job advertisements for Geelong Careers — part of the Geelong Region Local Learning and Employment Network — said the daily tally in the region dropped to 530 in August, but rebounded to 770 on Thursday.
“Jobs compared to the beginning of June are climbing back up again.,”Ms Messer said. “There’s always a need for jobs, and at the moment jobs are at a low ebb.”
She said demand for jobs in the region would be strong in education, transport and logistics, and health in the next six months.
“There’s going to be a stretch of development between Werribee and Geelong that will be the size of Ballarat in the next 10 years,” she said.
Ms Messer said there were 61 government and security jobs advertised on Geelong Careers in August — up from 10 in the category a year earlier — and 90 construction jobs and 89 health jobs advertised.
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Mr Marles said the nation needed a jobs plan.
“There are thousands of people who have found themselves without a job through no fault of their own, and in order to secure a job, in Geelong they are faced with the reality that there are 23 people applying for it,” he said.
“On the numbers alone, 23:1, we can see there is a jobs crisis in Geelong.
“Worryingly this is nearly twice the rate of capital cities.”
The government data Labor relied on is from the monthly internet vacancy index and based on a count of new online job advertisements via SEEK, CareerOne and Australian JobSearch each month.
Originally published as More than 20 people applying for every job in Geelong as construction, health, logistics expected to boom