Jobs eastern suburbs Melbourne: Retail, hospitality, manufacturing workers hit
Shocking new data reveals the true unemployment figure in the outer east with workers losing jobs as a result of the devastating coronavirus outbreak. Can you offer a local a job?
Outer East
Don't miss out on the headlines from Outer East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Victoria’s deadly virus outbreak and long lockdown has taken a devastating toll on jobs and employment in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, new figures show.
Unemployment in the region has risen to 4.37 per cent in August 2020 compared with 3.27 in August 2019, according to data compiled exclusively for Leader.
The number of men in the outer east looking for work in that time jumped from 3 per cent to 4.43 per cent.
While the rate of unemployment for women in the area was 4.30 per cent compared to 3.58 per cent a year earlier.
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR JOB OR BUSINESS DUE TO COVID? EMAIL US .
According to job search engine Adzuna there were six positions available across the Yarra Ranges as of Friday.
All were being advertised through job agencies and the majority were in the health sector including an intern pharmacist, clinical care co-ordinator, teacher, and cleaner.
In Knox there were 141 advertised, many of those for Federal Government agencies.
While in Maroondah there were six jobs in health, automotive and hospitality.
Southeast Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) chief executive Vonda Fenwick told Leader close to 55 per cent of members were forced to either stand down staff, incorporate shorter weeks or make redundancies by August.
The alliance represents more than 200 businesses across dozens of industries including
food, machinery, hydraulics and flooring from Knox through to Monash, Dandenong, Frankston, Cardinia and Gippsland.
“Many of our manufacturers have tried valiantly to hold onto their staff, despite roughly 80 per cent reporting revenue loss due to COVID-19,” Ms Fenwick said.
“One of the ongoing challenges and barriers to employment are skills shortages — primarily welders but also skilled machine operators.
“(But) recent Federal Government announcements regarding apprentices and young worker subsidies will no doubt assist the decision making around rehiring.”
AMES training and employment agency client and industry employment manager Fiona Anning said the group’s caseload had exploded during Melbourne’s second lockdown, with extra staff deployed across the business to help find work for up to 20 unemployed people each day.
Ms Anning told Leader the majority of people who presented to the agency’s southeast branch had lost jobs in the retail and hospitality industry from Box Hill through to Dandenong.
“(The second lockdown) has been one of our busiest periods but we’re engaging with our job seekers quite well,” she said.
“We have a lot of refugees in particular wanting to develop themselves and provide for their families …(clients) are using lockdown time to become upskilled via our digital programs.”
Across the country the number of people out of work almost doubled from 237,000 to 465,000 people in August.
The number of Victorians looking for a job rose 67 per cent to 130,000 people.
NSW was the only state to record a larger increase in unemployment than Victoria. There, the number of jobless people rose 88 per cent to 149,000 people in the year to August.
MORE: YARRA VALLEY TRAVEL AGENT CALLS ON LOCAL SUPPORT