Hunter Jobless Rate At 18 Month High

BY IAN CROUCH

New figures show the unemployment rate across Newcastle and the Hunter Valley has surged to its highest point in 18 months.

The jobless rate for Newcastle and Lake Macquarie jumped to 7.2 percent in August, while in the Hunter Valley, the unemployment rate hit 7.6.

State Newcastle MP, Tim Crackenthorp has slammed the government for presiding over what he describes as a massive increase in the jobless rate, saying claims of jobs and growth are exaggerated .

However, Hunter Business Chamber CEO, Bob Hawes expects job numbers will improve thanks to the construction boom and rising coal prices.

Newcastle MP, Tim Crackenthorp

Hunter Business Chamber C.E.O, Bob Hawes

A mixed bag for the Hunter economy

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The latest economic snapshot for the region has been released by the Hunter Research Foundation Centre.

It's a mixed bag, with the June quarter bringing subdued income growth and consumption, improved business confidence despite a decline in household confidence and a fall in the unemployment rate.

Lead Economist DR Anthea Bill says the state of the region's unemployment and employment rates are quite positive.

"The Hunter economy added 4,500 jobs and that was a growth of 1.4 per cent so that's in line with the state and a lot of those new jobs that were added to the economy were full-time jobs and growth was strongest in males and over the quarter male part-time employment actually contracted."

It's good news for first home buyers, but not so good for home owners - there's been a 2 per cent decline in Lake Macquarie and a 5 per cent drop largely in Dungog, Port Stephens and Singleton.

"The median house price across the Hunter declined in the June quarters of 2.4 per cent decline so that's the first time we've had a negative quarterly growth in median house price since September 2015 and that's led to a slowing of the annual growth rate to 6 per cent," said DR Anthea Bill.

However, while there are a few positives, DR Anthea Bill says apprenticeships for young people have been on a steady downward trend since 2012 with a 24 per cent decline.

"I understand there was some removal of employer incentives around that time period and there have also been overall shifts in employment away from manufacturing which has been a very strong provider of apprenticeships and traineeships in the region. I heard commentary also around the wage rate for apprentices and trainees."

Latest snapshot of the Hunter economy

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The Hunter Reseach Foundation has released its latest snapshot of the Hunter economy for the first quarter of 2017. It's been a positive first quarter with businesses being more innovative, house price growth continuing, and consumers saving more.

The latest research found that businesses are being more innovative. Around 46 per cent of the region's businesses have introduced new or improved products or services in the first quarter of this year which is the highest proportion since the foundation started collecting data in 2009.

"There was a sizeable jump in firms introducing new and improved products or services within their own industry or Australia although not so much in new to the world offerings. When we look at our data we can see that Hunter businesses who were innovating are also more likely to be profitable exporting overseas but also more likely to be employing more workers," said lead economist Dr Anthea Bill.

Retail figures were lower than expected with Hunter consumers spending less and saving more. In terms of personal finances, households' expectations are set to remain steady for the next 12 months. According to the research, low wages are mostly to blame for the reduction in spending. 

"Wage growth is at historically low levels so even though we've seen an improvement in the world economy, nationally we're not seeing much of a shift in consumption patterns and its sort of an ongoing weakness in the economy, so I think we need to see some improvement in wages to see an improvement in household spending patterns," said Dr Anthea Bill.

On the employment side of the economy, the research found there had been a 1 per cent fall in employment in the first quarter of this year, reversing the rise from the last quarter of 2016. Unemployment also rose to 5.5 per cent in March bringing it back in line with the state average. 

Hunter unemployment predicted to rise

A recent study has revealed large parts of the Hunter will likely see an increase in unemployment throughout this year.

The study released by the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the end of last year named 14 Hunter and Central Coast suburbs as high risk localities for unemployment rises.

The suburbs included; Muswellbrook, Singleton, Belmont South and Maitland West.

CofFEE Director, Professor Bill Mitchell said the study is the second of its kind for the area.

The reason for higher unemployment was contributed to a high rate of causal work and lower education levels among residents.

 “Regions that have a high percentage of casual or part time work can tend to face more job loss that regions that have strong full time employment,” Professor Mitchell said.

The areas at risk also had a high concentration of “sensitive” industries.

“We know that some industries like manufacturing, construction, retail trade, hospitality, these sorts of sectors are more sensitive to economic slowdown than other industries. So if a local area has a high proportion of the more sensitive industries it’s likely that they’ll experience greater job loss,” Professor Mitchell said.

The national unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent as of December and is expected to rise above 6 per cent this year.