LOCAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FALL TO NEW RECORD LOWS

UNEMPLOYMENT rates have fallen to new record lows across the Mid-North Coast, Independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott said today.
Mr Oakeshott welcomed the confidence-boosting figures as further evidence of the hard work being done to build a stronger economy for the region.
“Results are everything, and the unemployment data released this week for the 2011 December quarter tells an important story about the work that has been done over the past three years to turn our economy around,” he said.
Mr Oakeshott said record low jobless rates had been recorded in Port Macquarie (5.0%), Kempsey (6.9%) and Taree (6.6%), while Gloucester remained steady at 2.4%.
“These figures stand in stark contrast to the unacceptable situation we inherited from the National Party in 2008, when unemployment rates in the December quarter stood at 6% for Port Macquarie, 9.4% in Kempsey and 8.2% in Taree.
“The significance of this data, however, is not the actual number itself but the gap between local and state figures. The welcome news is that we now have Port Macquarie, for the first time ever, below the state unemployment rate which is 5.2%. Port Macquarie now joins Gloucester as two of the four local data sets performing better than the NSW average.
“In December 2008, Taree’s unemployment rate was 3.4% above the NSW average. Within three years, that gap has been reduced by two full percentage points to 1.4%.
“In Kempsey a gap of 4.6% in 2008 has fallen almost three percentage points to 1.7% for the equivalent period in 2011.
“These are strong results on the back of record funding to the Lyne electorate for major infrastructure projects, improvements to education and a regional jobs program that has delivered three Mid-North Coast jobs expos, a local employment plan and a full-time Local Employment Coordinator.
“After 60 years of our region doing its politics the same way, we are now making serious and lasting inroads into those entrenched areas of disadvantage, and at a time when the national economy in the non-mining sectors is flat.
“These latest unemployment figures, which continue a pattern of improvement over the past three years, are further proof we are now making a real difference to the lives of Mid-North Coast residents,” Mr Oakeshott said.
The Member for Lyne has encouraged anyone wanting more information, or wanting to participate in the regional education and employment strategies to contact his electorate offices in Port Macquarie or Taree.
ENDS Media contact: Sharon Fuller – 0429 787320