Unemployment record low

Geelong’s unemployment rate is lower than the record-breaking regional Victoria average.

The regional average has fallen to a record low and is by far the lowest regional unemployment rate in the nation, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported.

The ABS data shows the regional unemployment rate dropped to 2.9 per cent in July, with almost 750,000 regional Victorians in work.

Geelong’s unemployment rate was 2.4 per cent while the regional unemployment rate across all states is 3.6 per with Queensland at 3.8 per cent and South Australia at 5.2 per cent.

In Warrnambool and the South West the unemployment rate was just 1.2 per cent.

“With almost 750,000 people employed in regional Victoria, our economic recovery is a statewide good news story,”state treasurer Tim Pallas said.

“Regional Victoria played a key role in the state getting through the pandemic, and we are seeing the benefits of that sacrifice and hard work.”

The rate was 2.5 per cent in the Latrobe-Gippsland region and 2.7 per cent in Shepparton.

Victoria’s overall unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in almost 50 years, and the lowest in the country, with ABS figures released last week revealing a further drop in the jobless rate to 3.1 per cent. The national unemployment rate is 3.4 per cent.