Jobs most plentiful in Mackay: new data

IF you want a job in Queensland, it appears the sugar cane capital of Mackay is the place to be.

New jobs data has revealed the city’s unemployment rate has dropped from 4.8 per cent to 3.5 per cent over the past 12 months, while overall job numbers remained stable.

Mackay also has the lowest youth jobless rate in Queensland at 6.5 per cent, which is half the statewide average and much better than the fancied Brisbane market.

Mackay’s halcyon times are in contrast to Queensland’s two biggest tropical cities – Cairns and Townsville.

The number of jobs in Cairns has shrunk by 1000 over the last 12 months, pushing up the unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent.

And attempts to prop up Townsville’s lacklustre economy through a public spending bonanza have only worked to keep the city’s unemployment rate stable at 8.9 per cent, well above the statewide figure of 6.1 per cent.

The figures show there are 5500 more jobs in Townsville now than 12 months ago but almost 1000 additional people on the city’s unemployment queue.

Queensland carries the inauspicious title as the nation’s unemployment capital after falling behind fellow resources state, Western Australia.

The latest jobs data broken down into regions has revealed wildly different circumstances between cities and debunks the notion that the southeast Queensland corner is an employment paradise.

Treasurer Jackie Trad said Queensland’s jobs growth was 3.2 per cent, almost double population growth, and 15 of the state’s 19 labour markets grew job numbers.

“While some regions are responding quicker than others, the gap between the southeast Queensland and regional unemployment rates has narrowed significantly since early 2017,” she said.