By Matt Wade
There are stark differences in job opportunities across Sydney, with the south-west of the city having among the highest unemployment rates in the country while Sutherland and Northern Beaches have the lowest.
The gap between Sydney’s best and worst regional unemployment rates has been about 3 percentage points, or higher, throughout the past year and threatens to exacerbate differences in income and wealth across the city.
Sydney’s South West statistical district, which takes in Liverpool, Fairfield and Bonnyrigg, had the state’s highest jobless rate of 5.1 per cent in November, modelling by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
Only the Queensland Outback (5.5 per cent), South Australian Outback (5.3 per cent) and Northern Territory Outback (5.3 per cent) had higher unemployment. Melbourne’s West and North West statistical districts both had the same rate as Sydney’s South West.
Two statistical districts adjacent to Sydney’s South West – Parramatta (4.8 per cent) and Blacktown (4.6 per cent) – also ranked among the worst regions for unemployment nationally.
By contrast, the Sutherland district in Sydney’s south had Australia’s lowest regional unemployment rate at 2.2 per cent in November. Sydney’s Northern Beaches had the nation’s second-best rate at 2.3 per cent while Inner Perth was third-best at 2.4 per cent. The jobless rate in Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury, in Sydney’s north-west, also ranked among Australia’s lowest at 2.7 per cent.
Unemployment rates vary widely across Sydney’s regions.Credit: Louie Douvis
The contrasting employment outcomes across Sydney coincide with a pronounced slowdown in the NSW economy.
A budget update last month forecast economic growth in NSW of 0.75 per cent in the year to June 2025, following a sluggish 1.2 per cent expansion in 2023-24. The last time NSW had consecutive years of lower growth was in the early 1990s. Consumer spending in NSW has been subdued as persistent cost-of-living pressures and higher interest rates squeeze household budgets.
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said the reason for Sydney’s unemployment gap is that industries that employ many people in western Sydney have been disproportionately affected by weak consumer spending including retail, hospitality and manufacturing.
“Jobs have been less bountiful in those sectors,” he said.
Social researcher Mark McCrindle said levels of educational attainment also contributed to differing employment outcomes.
“Areas that have higher education rates, in terms of year 12 completion and tertiary qualifications, tend to end up with higher employment and, for that matter, higher earnings,” he said.
The NSW labour market has been resilient, overall, despite the state’s economic slowdown. Figures for December, released last Thursday, showed NSW unemployment at a three-month low of 3.8 per cent.
The state had a record 4.5 million workers in December; about 106,000 more than at the end of 2023. The share of NSW women aged 15 and over with a job reached 62.7 per cent in December, the second-highest on record. Women’s unemployment (3.6 per cent) was also lower than for men (3.8 per cent).
Detailed data shows unemployment in Sydney was consistently higher than in the rest of NSW during the past year.
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