Australia’s top 10 unemployed suburbs

Unemployment rates in some areas of Australia are as high as 61 per cent, a huge 10 times higher than the national average.

Both remote towns and inner-city suburbs appear in the list of Australia’s top 10 suburbs with the highest unemployment rate, with half of the top 10 located in Queensland, according to Department of Employment statistics.

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Australia’s highest unemployment figure comes from the indigenous community of Palm Island off the Queensland coast, with 61 per cent of unemployment in the 12 months to June 2015 – a significant hike from 49.3 per cent in the same period last year.

Unemployment numbers have also shot up in other Australian suburbs in the past 12 months.

Logan Central and Woodridge – both also located in Queensland – have also seen large jumps in their unemployment percentage.

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Elsewhere, some suburbs have seen a decline in unemployment rates, pushing them further down the list – APY Lands had the biggest percentage fall to 23.2 per cent, from 38.5 per cent in the same period last year.

Top 10 jobless hotspots

Palm Island, QLD
Working age population: 931
Unemployment: 61.0%

Yarrabah, QLD
Working age population: 837
Unemployment: 56.4%

Elizabeth, SA
Working age population: 3,314
Unemployment: 32.9%

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Halls Creek, WA
Working age population: 1,534
Unemployment: 32.7%

Logan Central, QLD    
Working age population: 2,212
Unemployment: 26.4%

Bridgewater – Gagebrook, TAS    
Working age population: 2,628
Unemployment: 25.6%

Woodridge, QLD
Working age population: 4,707
Unemployment: 24.7%

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Aurukun, QLD
Working age population: 421
Unemployment: 24.5%

Smithfield - Elizabeth North, SA
Working age population: 4,786
Unemployment: 23.3%

APY Lands, SA
Working age population: 955
Unemployment: 23.2%