Youth unemployment in the Hunter outside Newcastle has risen to 20.6 per cent and is the highest in NSW, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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The jobless rate for 15- to 24-year-olds is 15.1 per cent in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie region and 14.9 per cent on the Central Coast, while on Sydney’s Northern Beaches it is 5.2 per cent.
Politicians from the government and opposition have said the situation was unacceptable.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald said he was unhappy to hear that the youth unemployment rate in the Hunter had broken the 20 per cent mark.
“As a government, we have got to do better,” he said.
“The Hunter is feeling the cyclic effects of the price crunch in the coal industry, which has flow-on effects.
“It’s a difficult space out there.”
Mr MacDonald said the government was still working out how its new Jobs For NSW initiative, which is expected to create 150,000 new positions across the state, could help the Hunter.
Jobs For NSW will deliver $190 million during the next four years to boost job creation across the state.
But opposition spokeswoman for the Hunter Jodie Harrison said funding specifically allocated to the regions has been cut from $58 million to around $14 million a year under the Jobs for NSW program.
Jobs for NSW replaces the State Investment Attraction Scheme (SIAS) and Regional Industries Investment Fund (RIIF), which between them made available a total of $58 million for regional development.
The new scheme will now offer $57 million over four years, or $14.25 million a year – a 75 per cent cut on the previous scheme.
“More than one in five young people in the Hunter cannot find a job,” Ms. Harrison said.
“It is simply unfair that where a young person has grown up can give such disadvantage.
“How can the Premier cut regional funding and leave Hunter families knowing that their kids are four times more likely to be unemployed than young people in the Premier’s electorate?”
The youth unemployment rate in the Hunter, outside Newcastle, jumped from 5.8 per cent to 16.8 per cent between the beginning of 2013 and June 2014.
It was floating around the 15 per cent mark at the beginning of this year.
- With the Maitland Mercury
