The run of North-West and West Coast job losses might have ended, but the region is still down 1300 jobs in a year.
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The region averaged 50,100 jobs per month in the year to the end of May, original terms Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
That was consistent with the year to April, although it was too early to say for sure the run of job losses had ended.
The annual jobs average was down by 1300 compared to the year to May 2017.
The region’s labour force (people working and the unemployed) fell by 1100 by the same measure.
The participation rate (the percentage of the population in the labour force) slumped from 59.7 per cent to 58.2 per cent.
The number of unemployed people increased by 200 to 3300 (1500 males, 1800 females) and the unemployment rate rose from 5.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
Despite the struggles in the North-West and West, Tasmania is getting strong jobs growth overall.
It gained 2900 jobs in the year to May in trend terms.
That included an extra 2600 full-time jobs and about 400 part-time jobs.
Unemployed Tasmanians increased by 1400 to 16,500.
On an annual average basis, Launceston and the North-East gained 3000 jobs in the year to May, taking the region’s total employment to 68,400.
The number of unemployed people dropped by 800 to 4100.
The unemployment rate fell from 7 per cent to 5.7 per cent.
Participation and the labour force surged by 1.4 percentage points to 60.7 per cent and by 2200 people respectively.
Greater Hobart, not counting the South-East, gained 6000 jobs for the year.
That took its employment total to 112,100.
Its unemployment rate edged up from 5.9 per cent to 6 per cent.
That would largely be due to a 2.5 percentage point increase in the participation rate to 63.7 per cent.
Unemployed residents increased by 500 to 7100 in Greater Hobart.
