Mildura employment: Trade and construction, agriculture, health, nursing
More than 4000 people in the Mildura region are on Jobseeker, but data shows there may only be a couple hundred jobs available to them. Here’s where the work is.
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There are just 212 job vacancies advertised in the Mildura region, a fraction of the number of people out-of-work, Adzuna data shows.
As Sunraysia seeks out a recovery from the coronavirus crisis, online job postings reveal where the work opportunities are.
Adzuna’s records list 212 open positions, with trade and construction the top industry at 33.
There were 30 positions in each of the categories “other/general jobs” and “unknown”, many of which were likely tied to agriculture.
Health care and nursing was next with 24, followed by engineering at 14, sales at 11 and eight each for manufacturing and hospitality.
The listings were mainly located either in Mildura or unknown, accounting for 126 of the jobs.
Nichols Point had 27 listings, followed by Merbein with 21, Swan Hill with 15 and Irymple with five.
It can also be revealed competition for these positions is likely to be strong, with many only hitting unemployment in recent months.
As of August 2020, there were 2200 people in northwest Victoria out of work for less than 13 weeks, more than double the 1000 recorded at the same time a year earlier.
Fewer people were in severe long-term unemployment of more than 52 weeks.
Perhaps surprisingly, the unemployment rate in northwest Victoria went down from 4.87 per cent to 3.45 per cent in the period from August 2019 to August 2020.
For men, the rate went from 4.86 per cent to 2.75 per cent, however the difference was less pronounced for women, going from 4.87 per cent to 4.3 per cent.
There has also been evidence of severe job losses since the pandemic began.
The Mildura News recently revealed northwest Victoria had suffered one of the biggest declines in payroll jobs since March in the country, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Meanwhile, JobSeeker or Youth Allowance was in August received by 4480 people in the Mildura municipality alone, more than any earlier month during the pandemic.
In the Mildura suburb, about one in 11 residents were receiving one of the payments, the Department of Social Services figures showed.
Adding in Swan Hill would bring the number even higher, meaning thousands of people out-of-work are left to compete for much fewer jobs.
Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington told The Mildura News this month that while agriculture had remained relatively steady thus year, the retail, food and accommodation sectors, all put under pressure by stage 3, made up more than one-fifth of employment.
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.
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Contact reporter Michael DiFabrizio
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