Parts of Canberra have unemployment figures far higher than the national figure, putting the lie to Canberra’s image of being aloof from the recession.
They also put the lie to Canberra has a relatively homogeneous.
The suburb-by-suburb figures are based on Department of Education, Employment and Training surveys from July and August. They are therefore behind the national figures. Then Canberra’s overall unemployment was 8.1 per cent and the national figure was 10.6.
The figures were extracted by the ACT Opposition spokesman on employment, Tony De Domenico.
Those behind the national figure were: in central Canberra: Narrabundah 17.4, Braddon 16.8, Turner 16, Reid 15.3, O’Connor 14.7, Campbell 13.7, Kingston 13 and Ainslie 12.7. In Belconnen: Melba 11.4; in Woden Valley: Chifley 13.4 amd Lyons 13.8. In Tuggerangong: Richardson 12.4. There were none in Weston.
Those residential suburbs doing best in each area were: Central: Yarralumla 5.3 and Lyneham 6.2; Belconnen: Florey 3.3; Woden: Curtin 5.0 and Isaacs 0.0; and Tuggeranong Iasabella Plains 4.0.