Lowest Western Sydney youth unemployment rate in almost 20 years
EXCLUSIVE: Youth unemployment in Western Sydney is at its lowest level in almost 20 years. Treasurer Dominic Perrottet lauded the result as an “explosion of new jobs”, with 30,200 jobs added in the region in the past seven years.
NSW
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YOUTH unemployment in Western Sydney is at its lowest level in almost 20 years.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet lauded the result as an “explosion of new jobs”, with 30,200 jobs added in the region in the past seven years.
This has slashed the youth unemployment level to 9.9 per cent — well below the 10-year national average of 11.8 per cent.
And NSW is the only mainland state to notch up a decline in youth unemployment in the past year.
Western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger said the region was the site of a “cluster of blockbuster projects” and was sharing the benefits with young people.
“We need to leave a legacy with these mega projects and that needs to be the training of young people, particularly disadvantaged people, so that we are bringing them with us and not leaving them on the couch,” Mr Borger said.
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The reduction in youth unemployment — people aged 15 to 25 — in the west mirrors a wider trend in youth unemployment across the state.
The inner southwest region of Bankstown, Canterbury, Hurstville and Kogarah-Rockdale has the biggest proportion of youth employed in Western Sydney, closely followed by Parramatta and the southwest areas of Bingelly, Fairfield and Liverpool.
The state government will seize on the figures to show how employment has soared under the Coalition in contrast to previous slow jobs growth under Labor.
Figures show that in the final seven years of the Labor government, just 1200 jobs were created for youth in Western Sydney.
“If you look at the new jobs for young people in Western Sydney, there is no doubt who in NSW Parliament is really fighting for the workers of NSW,” Mr Perrottet said.
“You can hire a red bus and drive around taking selfies but that doesn’t create jobs,” he said, referencing Labor’s bus tour of the state.
The figures come as the state government lodged its submission to the national wages inquiry, calling for a cautious approach to changes to the minimum wage.
The submission notes that wages growth has not responded to the strengthening labour market.
Mr Perrottet believes wage growth should be driven by lower tax burdens and a reduction in red tape.
The government submission says that a “stable wage environment” is critical to the government’s $80 billion infrastructure program.