Long-Term Unemployment in the ACT

Abstract

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the overall unemployment rate in the ACT was virtually indistinguishable from that in the country as a whole. However, for the past twenty-five years, unemployment in the ACT has been lower – often substantially lower – than in the nation as a whole. The ACT also has a lower rate of long-term unemployment (defined as unemployment durations of 12 months or more). Given the unique nature of the ACT labour market, it is useful to focus on long-term unemployment in the ACT specifically. We do this by analysing administrative data on benefits payments. Looking only at unemployed persons in the ACT, and analysing the propensity to be long-term unemployed, we find that men, Indigenous people, older people, and less educated people are more likely to be long-term unemployed. Finally we find that unemployment and long-term unemployment in the ACT is geographically concentrated in certain neighbourhoods.