BRAYBROOK is expected to be the hardest hit by unemployment in the west, as job agencies in the City of Maribyrnong experience an influx of new clients.
An Employment Vulnerability Index, released by the Centre of Full Employment and Equity in NSW, named Braybrook as the seventh-most vulnerable place in Victoria for job losses.
The suburb is considered "very vulnerable" to job losses if the national economy contracts because it has a young population, low education and income levels and an already high unemployment rate. This earned it a "red" alert (high risk).
Maidstone fell just outside the top 20 with an "amber" alert (medium-to-high risk). Footscray, Maribyrnong, West Footscray and Yarraville were labelled medium-to-low-risk areas.
Centrelink data shows there has already been a 12.3per cent increase in job seekers receiving benefits via the Footscray office, with 151 people added between December and January.
In contrast, labour market data for the September quarter shows a drop in unemployment in the City of Maribyrnong from 7.3 to 7.2per cent. Data for the December quarter is expected to be released this week.
Job agencies in Footscray told The Mail they were already experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of job seekers, and a drop in job vacancies.
New Force Employment assistant manager Bandana Kc said many clients had lost jobs in the car, meat, steel and mining industries.
"Last week we had another 16 job seekers and this week we have 25 job seekers coming in person, but through email there are a lot more than that.
"They are coming from all over [the western suburbs] and are ready to do volunteer work so they can get experience to apply for other jobs."
Ms Kc said more workers were prepared to take unskilled positions, like cleaning and kitchen-hand jobs, and predicted things would get even tougher for job seekers this year.
Premier John Brumby last week announced $5million for the New Workforce Partnerships program, which is expected to create more than 560 jobs.
Twenty-nine organisations including the Australian Vietnamese Women's Association in Footscray and Mint Training Partnership at Braybrook, Maidstone and Laverton will provide apprenticeships and jobs to society's most disadvantaged. Refugees, single mothers, public housing tenants and people with a mental or physical disability are set to benefit.
The women's association chief executive Cam Nguyen said the program was in demand. "We have a wide range of job-seekers. We have some ex-offenders, but we also have single mums going back to work and people who are fairly recent arrivals [from overseas]."
On Wednesday, a delegation of western suburbs mayors and chief executives travelled to Canberra to lobby the Federal Government on a range of issues, including employment.
Maribyrnong Mayor Michael Clarke said his wish list included on/off-ramps for the West Gate Freeway at Hyde Street, redevelopment of defence land in Maribyrnong and water resources.
"Other than that it was a case of jobs, jobs, jobs. All the mayors in the west are trying to do whatever they can to help the Federal Government keep propping up the economy.
"This is a global financial crisis. Things are going to get a lot rockier before they get better."
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