WYNDHAM is facing an unemployment blow-out as the west bears the brunt of the state’s jobs decline.
More than 1000 locals joined the jobless queue in the past 12 months, taking the number of unemployed Wyndham residents to more than 5000.
Small area labour market figures for the December quarter show the area’s adjusted unemployment rate has ballooned out to 7.5per cent since last January, far higher than the state average of 5per cent.
The slide looks set to continue as manufacturing is pounded by a high Australian dollar, forcing jobs and investment offshore.
Opposition employment spokesman and Tarneit MP Tim Pallas said the downward trend would worsen across the west, because many recent job cuts and prospective cutbacks at companies like Alcoa and Qantas hadn’t been factored into the latest figures.
“We have a data lag and the situation is going from bad to worse,” he said.
“In the absence of the government putting in place a viable jobs plan, people are going to see the situation deteriorate.”
Mr Pallas said the state government needed to invest in infrastructure, like a truck action plan and Truganina-based intermodal transport hub, to boost Wyndham’s manufacturing and logistics industries.
“Nobody’s expecting the government to start building pieces of infrastructure overnight, or to throw millions of dollars they don’t have, but they need to have a pipeline of projects to show they’ve got the jobs ready.”
Manufacturing, Exports and Trade Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said manufacturers faced significant challenges including high interest rates and tough global competition.
“We have announced a strategy to help our manufacturers become more productive and competitive, to assist them to build their skills and capabilities, to identify and capture new markets in global supply chains and to ensure they are able to continue to compete strongly and successfully in domestic and global markets.”
