Youth unemployment in the South West was at 14.3 per cent in April this year, according to a Department of Jobs and Small Business spokesperson.
Data also showed the region’s overall unemployment rate had trended upwards over the last 10 years doubling from 3 per cent in 2009 to 6.1 per cent in 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In the South West, the number of youth in full time jobs was 5400 and the number in part time positions was 8000.
The incidence of casual work for young employees in their main job was 42.5 per cent (recorded in August 2017).
A spokesperson from a job provider in the region said they were seeing more young people looking for work than ever before.
The spokesperson said what is different, now there was a lot more casual employment which did not offer people enough hours and was not sustainable for the worker.
“Someone might get a job but it is just one shift a week,” the spokesperson said.
“Busselton is like that, around 80 per cent of employers go the casual way which makes it difficult.”
The spokesperson said many casual positions available in tourism and hospitality were only available during peak tourist times.
Rather than offering long-serving employees full or part time work or more hours, the spokesperson said employers were hiring more casual staff to cover peak times.
“Casual workers were still competing with unemployed people for jobs.”
From July 1, tougher measures will be brought in for job seekers who do not meet their obligation requirements which could see their payments slashed.
Job seekers who regularly miss their compulsory job search requirements or refuse work will receive demerit points with the most non-compliant job seekers facing financial penalties.
Vasse MLA Libby Mettam said the youth unemployment rate in the South West was lower than WA in April which was 16 per cent and the Australian average which was 12.5 per cent.
“It is widely recognised there are significant parts of the community that are underrepresented in the workforce, including youth, women, people with a disability, Indigenous Australians, and older workers,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the current landscape presents very significant challenges for young people and current policies are inadequate to meet their needs.”
Ms Mettam said the South West had a proven ability to produce market premium quality food and beverages to local and export markets as well as emerging new industries in technology, media and the creative arts.
”Any decline in an industry will have flow on effects to the jobs market and suppliers,” she said.
“While retail sales picked up a little in April following a flat March, trend sales growth of 0.3 per cent remained soft due mainly to the department store sector where sales fell for the fifth time in six months.”
Ms Mettam said in light of this, there were a number of positive retail outcomes occurring in the Busselton region.
“The Power Centre development including Aldi and Kmart together with the new shopping complex at Vasse Village with Coles supermarket have created the opportunity for young people to apply for many new full time positions.”
Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Jodie Richards said there had been a steady decline in tourism over the past year.
Ms Richards said tourism had come off an unusual high so it could be a market correction or may be indicative of an overall trend.
She said construction seemed to be remaining stable, although there had been some impact on local providers with larger companies going into receivership.
“Trade-based businesses seem to be remaining stable,” she said.
In terms of retail positions, Ms Richards said there was a growth in the number of employment opportunities in the retail sector with the opening of Aldi, Coles Vasse and Kmart Busselton.
“Busselton Central has also committed to an expansion of their centre increasing employment opportunities,” she said.
“It is still difficult to obtain professional positions in the area.”
Have your say: If you are unemployed or employed on a casual basis, we would like to hear from you about your experience. Email editorial.bdmail@fairfaxmedia.com.au.