THE Altona electorate has the third-highest level of unemployment in Victoria.
Unemployment in Altona, which takes in Point Cook and parts of Hobsons Bay, rose by almost 2 per cent between September 2008 and December, federal government figures show.
The Tarneit electorate has the highest level of unemployment in the state, with new figures revealing its jobless rate rose by 2.5 per cent.
The figures, which were released by the state opposition, detail increases in unemployment in Victorian electorates with jobless rates higher than 6per cent.
In March, the unemployment rate for Altona was 6.4 percent, while the statewide rate was 5.8 percent. The unemployment rate for Wyndham was 7.5per cent.
Altona MP Jill Hennessy described unemployment levels across the west as a “jobs crisis” brought on by government inaction.
She said recent manufacturing jobs losses, including the sacking of 350 workers at Toyota last month, would lead to higher unemployment rates in the future.
“The manufacturing industry employs about 40,000 people in outer-western Melbourne,” she said. “Those manufacturing jobs often support another two or three jobs in the local community.
“In the last 12 months about 3000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in outer-western Melbourne. The flow-on effect is massive.”
Matchworks’ general manager Michael Wasley said its Werribee employment office had faced a rise in the number of Wyndham and Hobsons Bay residents laid off from car manufacturing plants.
He said the agency had noted a trend in people being moved to temporary, casual or contract positions in the retail sector, reducing their regular employment hours.
Mr Wasley said the outer west needed an investment in local jobs, particularly for people who relied on public transport to get to Melbourne’s CBD or to the Laverton North industrial precinct.
Employment Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said the government had announced a strategy to help manufactures become more productive and competitive and retain jobs.
