Possum Comitatus does June 2009 Australian labor force statistics by region

Map showing changes in unemployment rate by region since the 2007 election

Click map to enlarge

1. Where the derived unemployment rate has actually reduced since the last election (yes, as surprising as it might sound, such places do exist!). We'll represent these regions with a cross-hatch.

2. Where the unemployment rate has increased by between zero and 3% since the last election. We'll represent these areas with vertical horizontal lines (Ha! Sorry about that…)

3. Where the unemployment rate has increased by more than 3% since the last election. We'll represent these areas as vertical lines.

Once again Possum shines a light on statistics and gives an easily digestible representation of the growing mountain of numbers which now come our way thanks to the cyber highway.

This year the NSW North Coast continues showing an positive picture when it comes to falling unemployment rates.

The Tweed-Richmond & Mid North Coast showed a regional unemployment rate of 7.1% for the May quarter - a fall of 1.1% on the same quarter in 2008 and a regional rate of 6.3% for the June quarter 2009.

However, it must be remembered that this region starts from a chronically high rate compared to the New South Wales average and as people become discouraged by a lack of local employment prospects the workforce participation rate continues to be relatively low.