Unemployment woes.

Recently released state unemployment figures do little to inspire confidence for Wollongong and the Illawarra area. Wollongong has an unemployment level of 10% and the figure for the Illawarra is 9.1% - compared to Sydney with a figure of 4.4% and the state at 4.9%.
It is not hard to determine why this is so. Wollongong is a union town - and it is not a place where any sane and sensible new employer would choose to start a business. To do so would expose that business to myopic union leaders wearing rose tinted socialist glasses who would impose draconian demands.
No help is available to such an employer. The city has a Labor dominated council and the state Labor government is not in the business of opposing the same unions that fund it's election campaigns. It is a case of a safe Labor area being out of sight and out of mind.
The tragedy is that this situation is even worse when it comes to youth unemployment. In September the youth unemployment ( 15 - 19 year olds ) reached an eleven year high of 41.2%. It has since " improved " to 39.2%.
Not only are jobs scarce in this region but a stigma is attached to young people applying for jobs in the vast Sydney market. Employers routinely discard applications with an Illawarra address because they know that past history makes such people unreliable.
The problem is the antiquated transport system. Rail is a joke when it comes to arriving on time - and when trains fail to arrive on time people are late for work.
The government crows that it has fixed this problem. All it did was revery to a steam age timetable with trains running slower - and thus arriving more consistently at the new arrival time. The only problem was that this new timetable failed to connect with other services and achieved little for those trying to arrive at work on time.
Then there is the state of the rail line between the Illawarra and Sydney. Even moderate rain causes landslides and as a precaution trains run even slower or are cancelled. No wonder Sydney employers avoid employees from the south coast.
In the past we have had glowious promises of a better rail service. There was great talk of a " very fast train " with a twenty minute service as against the present ninety minute commute - and there was talk of a tunnel from Thirroul to near Engadine - but all those suggestions happened just prior to elections - and dissolved like mirages immediately after.
We are facing a state election on March 24. There is still time for an improved rail service promise to be trotted out - but cynicism suggests that if this happens again it will be a last, desperate throw of the dice if the opinion polls turn sour!