Jobs in northwest Victoria fall 8.8 per cent during coronavirus pandemic
A region with relatively few coronavirus cases has had one of the most severe hits to employment in Australia. Border closures aren’t the only reason why.
Mildura
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Stage 3 coronavirus restrictions didn’t spare northwest Victoria from recording a similar rate of job losses to metropolitan Melbourne.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has been tracking the decline in payroll jobs since the week in March when the country recorded its 100th COVID-19 case.
Between then and September 5, northwest Victoria payroll jobs fell by 8.8 per cent.
Not only was this the steepest decline in regional Victoria, which was on stage 3 restrictions at the start of September, nationally it was behind only two of six Melbourne regions, which were on stage 4.
The fall in Melbourne over the same period ranged from 9.8 per cent for the inner city to as low as 6.5 per cent in the northeast.
Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington said the figures lined up with what was being seen in the Mildura region.
Mr Millington said while agriculture had remained relatively steady, the retail, food and accommodation sectors, all put under pressure by stage 3, made up more than one-fifth of employment.
These industries also included many casual or temporary workers who were ineligible for JobKeeper, he said.
Then there was the added stress to the tourism industry from border restrictions.
South Australia, which has a hard border closure over recent months, normally provides 20 per cent of the visitors to Mildura.
“All these things tend to build on top of each other,” Mr Millington said.
Northwest Victoria, which covers a vast region including Mildura, Horsham and Swan Hill, has remained among Australia’s hardest-hit for job losses since early in the pandemic, the payroll stats reveal.
Mildura hasn’t recorded a locally-based coronavirus case since April, while some of the region’s local government areas have never had a documented case.
Yet by mid-July, no region in Australia had lost a greater proportion of its jobs.
The decline at that point was 7.6 per cent and, despite a brief rebound, by late August it was above 8 per cent.
An interactive map of different regions is available on the ABS website.
Data beyond the first week of September was yet to be released, but there are indications jobs have returned as a result of regional Victoria’s move to the third step of eased restrictions.
Mr Millington said caravan parks had received a boost from school holiday visitors and cafes and restaurants had welcomed back diners.
“I’m hearing evidence of accommodation going from about five per cent occupancy to 50 per cent in some instances,” he said.
JobSeeker or Youth Allowance was received by 4480 people in the Mildura municipality in August, more than any earlier month during the pandemic.
In the Mildura suburb, about one in 11 residents were receiving one of the payments, Department of Social Services figures showed.
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