FACTBase Bulletin 40 - The Geography of Perth’s Youth Unemployment

This Bulletin presents an overview of the demographic profile of unemployed youth within the Perth and Peel metropolitan region using 1991 to 2011 data. It highlights the trends and spatial patterns of unemployment amongst those aged 15-24 years across the region’s 40 Statistical Local Areas.

Key Findings

• Over a twenty-year period from 1991 to 2011, the youth unemployment rate in the Perth and Peel metropolitan area declined by 66.7%.
• In 2011, over half of the unemployed youth were in the 15-19 year old bracket and more males than females were unemployed.
• A higher proportion of the unemployed youth are Australian born compared to overseas born.
• Spatially, the areas of Perth and Peel with the lowest proportion of unemployed youth were in the central-western parts of the metropolitan region, whereas the south-west metropolitan areas had the highest proportions of the unemployed youth.
• Kwinana, Rockingham, and Mandurah were the most persistent areas with you unemployment out of all the SLAs from 1991 to 2011.