The New England's "disturbingly high" unemployment rate is running ahead of the national average, despite more than 4000 vacant positions in the region.
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The region has among the lowest employment-to-population ratios in the state, despite businesses facing a major shortage of employees, according to Business NSW.
The region's unemployment rate - a number which measures the number of people actually looking for a job - is 6 per cent, according to new statistics released on Thursday.
The rate is 5.9 per cent for men and 6.1 per cent for women, the new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.
The regional figure for the New England and North West is well above the national unemployment rate, which plunged to a historic low of just 3.5 per cent in June, according to ABS data released last week.
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Business NSW acting senior director for the region Paula Martin described the local number as "disturbingly high".
Young people in particular are finding it hard to get work, with a 26.5 per cent unemployment rate in the 15-24 year old demographic category, she said.
The New England North West has the third lowest employment-to-population ration in the state, she said.
But that's not due to a lack of jobs.
The number of jobs advertised in local businesses has "literally doubled" since before the pandemic, with some 4000 jobs just waiting for an employee to fill them, she said - almost exactly the same number of young people out of a job.
"I don't think we should be living with this at all, because this is a productive cohort of people," she said.
"First of all we need to understand what the barriers and challenges [to finding work] are, truly understand what they are.
"And then we need to improve our industry exposure to these young people to get them excited about the jobs that are currently going.
"We've got 4000 jobs going!
"We need to work with out schools and careers advisors."
Tamworth Business Chamber President Stephanie Cameron said businesses and unemployed people need to be more flexible, to clear the shortfall.
"All I can do is to encourage those looking for work to maybe look at something different or alternate to what they might have previously considered, to look outside the box," she said.
"The other thing I can do is flip it the other way on employers, too. Maybe advertise using non-traditional methods. Think about innovative ways you might catch those jobseekers' attention."
She said virtually every business in town is short employees.
The 3.5 per cent June jobless figure released by the ABS last week was the lowest since August 1974.
The bureau released new data breaking down the national statistic by region on Thursday.
Of the entire population of the New England North West region, 58.1 per cent of people are in some kind of job.
The number has grown by 1 per cent since the same June figures for 2021.
About 63.6 per cent of men in the region have a job, with just 52.9 per cent of women employed.
The figures show the region's biggest employers as an industry are healthcare, education and training, accommodation and agriculture.
Healthcare alone employs some 6,440 people, with education and training employing 6,000 and agriculture 3,700.
The New England North West statistical region takes in Armidale and Tamworth, stretching as far north as Tenterfield, as far south as Quirindi and as far west as Narrabri.