At first glance job opportunities in Victoria are improving. The state’s unemployment rate has been steadily declining and is currently 5.7 per cent, the second lowest of all the states.

However, Victoria’s youth unemployment rate remains concerning high, particularly in regional Victoria. In some areas up to one in four young people are unable to find employment.

The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data, released this week, shows Victoria’s youth unemployment rate remains higher than the national average with more than 13 per cent of young people in Victoria unemployed (67,600 people aged 15-24 years).

Ballarat was the worst hit region in September, with more than a quarter of young people unemployed (25.4 per cent).

This was closely followed by Hume (22.3 per cent) and the LaTrobe - Gippsland regions (20.8 per cent).

It is concerning that populations of a number of regions are growing but jobs are not being created at the same rate.

In the Victorian Chamber’s most recent Survey of Business Trends and Prospects, we were encouraged that almost half of the businesses surveyed said they are looking to hire new staff in the next 12 months.

However, many of the vacancies that businesses are seeking to fill are a result of attrition, rather than business growth and strong consumer demand.

Many businesses expressed concern that customer spending is still weak and that a lot of their time and resources are being devoted to servicing and retaining existing customers.

They said they were also worried about challenges encountered in trying to diversify into new high growth markets, ongoing wage pressures and difficulties finding suitably trained and experienced staff when vacancies do arise.

For more information on our Survey of Business Trends and Prospects, click here.