Electorate data: Unemployment and JobSeeker estimates (December 2023)
Headline electorate data |
Electorate maps |
Electorate tables |
Interpreting the data |
Download the data |
Further reading |
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Headline electorate data
In December 2023, unemployment rates in NSW electorates ranged from 1.1% in Terrigal to 9.7% in Fairfield. In comparison, the NSW rate was 3.3%.
JobSeeker rates (expanded series) ranged from 1.1% in Davidson to 11.8% in Barwon, compared to a NSW rate of 4.7%. The expanded JobSeeker series, which has replaced the old series from June 2023 onwards, includes recipients who are on a zero rate of payment and those who are suspended from payment.
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Electorate maps (December 2023)
In December 2023, unemployment rates were highest in the South West Sydney (4.4%), Blacktown-Parramatta (4.0%) and Illawarra Shoalhaven (3.9%) regions. JobSeeker rates were highest in the North Coast (8.4%), North West NSW (7.6%) and South West Sydney (6.0%) regions.
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Electorate tables (December 2023)
39 electorates recorded an annual increase in the unemployment rate. The largest increases were seen in Wollongong (+1.5 percentage points), South Coast (+1.4 percentage points) and Maroubra (+1.4 percentage points). The largest declines in the unemployment rate were seen in the Northern Tablelands (-3.9 percentage points), Tamworth (-3.2 percentage points) and Barwon (-3.0 percentage points) electorates.
90 electorates recorded an annual decrease in the JobSeeker rate. The largest annual JobSeeker rate declines were seen in Lismore (-1.2%), Myall Lakes (-1.2%) and Clarence (-1.0%).
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Interpreting the data
A person is considered to be unemployed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) if they were not employed in the reference week, and had looked for work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available to work. The ABS considers a person to be employed if they worked at least 1 paid hour in the reference week. The labour force is equivalent to the total number of unemployed and employed people. A person who is economically inactive is defined as being 'not in the labour force'. People not in the labour force include retirees, full-time students, stay-at-home parents and those who are permanently unable to work.
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed expressed as a proportion of the labour force. The data presented here is for all persons aged 15 and over.
The JobSeeker rate is equal to the total population receiving either the JobSeeker Payment (people aged 22 to 64) or Youth Allowance (other) (people aged 16 to 21) as a proportion of the population aged 15-64. These unemployment benefits are available to people who are looking for work, or who are sick or injured and temporarily unable to do their normal work or study.
The
overlap between people defined as unemployed by the ABS and those receiving unemployment benefits is
far smaller than might be expected. While the JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance (other) are the main income support payments for unemployed people, not all recipients are unemployed and not all unemployed people receive benefits. Due to eligibility, job search and activity requirements, unemployment benefit recipients
could be counted by the ABS as being either unemployed, underemployed or not in the labour force.
Unemployment benefits and measured unemployment
Personal circumstances
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Labour force status (ABS) |
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Receiving unemployment benefits AND |
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Not working, looking for a paid job
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Unemployed
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Working at least 1 hour a week in a paid job, and looking for more hours
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Employed - underemployed
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Not employed, exempt from job search
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Not in the labour force
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Not receiving unemployment benefits (for example, due to income/assets test)
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AND not working
AND looking for work
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Unemployed
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Methodology: population-weighted correspondences
Unemployment and JobSeeker data is available for Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s). The ABS defines SA2s as medium-sized general purpose areas designed to represent a community that interacts together socially and economically. SA2s generally have an average population of about 10,000, with a range of 3,000 to 25,000 people. Remote and regional SA2s areas generally have smaller populations than those in urban areas.
Correspondences can be used to mathematically reassign data from one geographic region to another, including state electoral divisions (SEDs). Standard correspondences have a weighting calculated based on the location of the population.
An SA2 to SED population-weighted correspondence was derived using data from an ABS Customised report provided to the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. In this Data Brief, Small Area Labour Market data from Jobs and Skills Australia and JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance (Other) data from the Department of Social Services have been reassigned using the SA2 to SED correspondence to match the geographic regions of the 93 NSW SEDs as determined in the 2021 redistribution.
The NSW unemployment rate reported in this Data Brief is directly comparable to the unemployment estimates for the NSW electorates, and slightly different to the trend series normally reported by the ABS.
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Further reading
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Title: Electorate data: Unemployment and JobSeeker estimates (December 2023)
Author: Daniel Montoya, Cristy Gelling
Publication number: Data Brief No. 2024-02
ISSN 2981-8354 (Online)
The NSW Parliamentary Research Service provides impartial research, data and analysis services for members of the NSW Parliament.
© 2024 Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior consent from the Senior Manager, NSW Parliamentary Research Service, other than by members of the New South Wales Parliament in the course of their official duties.
Any advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in this publication is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for related parliamentary purposes. This publication is not professional legal opinion.
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