The Newcastle labour market is showing tentative signs of improvement after the unemployment rate dipped below 10 per cent in July and the city added 3800 jobs.
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The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics labour market survey issued on Thursday shows the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent in July, down from 11.1 per cent the previous month.
The number of employed people in the city rose from an estimated 172,100 to 175,900, the first significant rise since the job market fell off a cliff in March in line with COVID-19 restrictions.
Most of the new jobs went to men as the number of women in work rose by just 400 to 87,100 in the month.
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The number of people classed as unemployed fell from a record 21,500 in June to 19,000 last month as some businesses began rehiring.
The Newcastle workforce participation rate, a measure of the number of people either in work or looking for jobs, rose from 62.5 per cent to 63 per cent, the highest level since March.
It was 68.5 per cent in February.
The Newcastle figures reflected national statistics the ABS issued last week showing seasonally adjusted jobs growth of 114,000 in July, though the Australian unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.5 per cent.
NSW added 44,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dropped from 7.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent.
In the rest of the Hunter, outside Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, another 1300 people found work in July but the unemployment rate rose from 7.4 per cent to 7.8 per cent as more people started looking for jobs.
Across the entire region, an estimated 40,800 people lost work between March and June, but the latest figures suggest 5100, or one in eight, of these jobs were restored in July.
Of the 5100 people to find employment, 3700 were in full-time jobs and 1400 part-time.
Hunter Business Chamber chief executive officer Bob Hawes said the rise in job numbers was expected after restrictions eased in May.
"The small pick-up in jobs and decrease in unemployment rates are generally telling a positive story for business," he said.
"However, we are not seeing new businesses opening, and youth unemployment remains unacceptably high, which reinforces the need for government to extend subsidies for apprenticeships and traineeships to include incentives for new placements as well as existing employees.
"We have to move beyond the stage of getting businesses in lifeboats, which JobKeeper has done, and get them back on firm ground where they feel safe enough to make decisions about growth and employment."
By comparison, the number of employed people in the Illawarra region jumped to a record high of 157,000 in July, a rise of 5600, and the jobless rate was 7.9 per cent, lower than it was in January and February.
In Geelong, another satellite city close to a state capital, the jobless rate was just 4.8 per cent in July.
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
