Drop in jobless rate

New suburbs lead the charge, driving down unemployment

THE unemployment rate for all Townsville suburbs is improving, the latest data reveals.

The Small Area Labour Force data, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, reveals that in March 2018 the unemployment rate for all Townsville suburbs was improving.

In its June 2018 report, TP Human Capital commissioned DS Economics to investigate Townsville suburbs’ unemployment performance.

Clayton Cook, from TP Human Capital, said the official data showed the largest improvement in unemployment took place in Gulliver and Vincent ( down 5.5 per cent); West End and Garbutt ( down 4.9 per cent), Heatley ( down 4.7 per cent), Kelso ( down 4.4 per cent and the city and North Ward ( down 4.2 per cent).

Mr Cook said construction projects and health and social assistance jobs were likely to be behind the improvement.

“Many suburbs are at or performing better than traditional full employment levels of between 5 per cent and 6 per cent, which is the DS Economics estimate range for Townsville full employment,” he said. “Annandale and Oonoonba have unemployment rates of 3.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively. “The unemployment rate

in Townsville South is at 4.2 per cent, Belgian Gardens and Pallarenda is at 5 per cent, Douglas is at 3.4 per cent, Bohle Plains is at 2.7 per cent and Deeragun is 5.4 per cent.

“Many of these suburbs are more recent additions on the Townsville landscape … They are linked to leading employment zones in the city – the army, hospital, JCU and TAFE.

“Households in these suburbs generally have higher than average incomes, are better qualified and are more likely to work in more resilient industries.”

Mr Cook said much had changed with the workforce of Townsville suburbs in the past 12 months.

“While it’s good to see these improved performances across the city, there is still lots more work to do to achieve full employment,” he said.

Mr Cook said the unemployment rate of Townsville City was likely to be below the regional figure for May of 8.5 per cent, with Charter Towers, Palm Island and Ingham performing below the regional average unemployment