Regional Victoria is benefiting from thousands of new jobs, with the state’s regional unemployment rate the lowest recorded in the nation.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released shows Victoria’s regional unemployment rate is just 4.6 per cent – well below the national average of 5.4 per cent.
Victoria’s regional areas also had the strongest full-time employment growth in the nation, with 26,200 people finding full-time work – more than half of all the full-time jobs created in regional Australia in the past year.
In the three months to March 2019 alone, Victoria’s regional areas bucked the national trend, gaining an extra 6,200 jobs, while nationally, regional jobs fell by 7,300.
Victoria’s regional hubs – Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Shepparton – all experienced strong jobs growth, creating more than 38,000 jobs between them over the past year.
Since the Victorian Government was first elected in November 2014, Victoria’s regional unemployment rate has decreased by 2 percentage points from 6.6 per cent.
Source: Vic Government