By John Van Klaveren
GEELONG faces job losses of five per cent with the closure of the automotive industry, according to a State of the Regions report.
The closure of Ford and its impact on local suppliers would lead to a 6.4 per cent fall in gross regional product as Geelong suffered a “deteriorating economic base”, the report said.
Geelong had 12,000 people out of work, up 8.3 per cent in the past two years, with the bulk of Ford and Alcoa redundancies still to be added.
Using National Institute of Economic and Industry Research figures, the report put the municipality’s actual unemployment at 9.9 per cent.
Geelong’s headline unemployment rate of 6.8 per cent had jumped .5 per cent a year since the 2009 global financial crisis, the report said.
Full-time job prospects for 15-to-24 year-olds were dim, with 55 per cent of the age group in part-time employment, up from 44 per cent in 1999.
However, the report said Geelong’s household wealth was rising, now standing at an average $655,000, up from $619,000 last year.
Household wealth includes assets such as real estate and cars.
The report warned debt-to-gross-income ratios remained dangerously high in all Australian regions, although Geelong’s had dropped from 1.49 to 1.47.
Geelong also recorded a 29 per cent increase in the value of new residential construction, although non-residential building was down 14 per cent.
Health services was a bright spot for Geelong employment, up six per cent after Victorian Government decisions on relocating health facilities.
