Employment
Employment
Employment in the Hunter (see below and footnotes for region definitions) has continued a modest upward trend. The figures here are three-month moving averages of the ABS modelled SA4 estimates, which are volatile month to month; each change below is therefore a movement in that average rather than a count of jobs created in the period. Using that measure, Hunter employment reached around 372,000 in July 2026. The average rose by about 2,000 from the month before, 2,200 over three months, 5,900 over six months and around 6,900 added over the past year (about +1.9%). This points to an underlying trajectory of gradual growth, albeit with month-to-month volatility. Over the same year, NSW employment grew by around 75,900 (about +1.7%), so the Hunter has broadly kept pace with the state in percentage terms.
Note that for the Hunter, employment statistics are modelled and reported at the Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4), including the SA4s of ‘Hunter Valley excluding Newcastle’, and ‘Newcastle and Lake Macquarie’, but excluding the Mid-Coast LGA which is classified in the Mid North Coast SA4 region. Hence data for the Hunter Region in this section excludes the Mid-Coast LGA.
A note on the source: the ABS ceased the Labour Force, Australia, Detailed publication with its March 2026 issue as part of Labour Force Modernisation. The modelled SA4 series used here now comes from table MLF1 of the main Labour Force, Australia release, which is the direct successor to the former MRM2 table and is constructed on the same basis.
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Data source: ABS Labour Force, Australia (table MLF1, modelled SA4 estimates)
Unemployment
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Data source: ABS Labour Force, Australia (table MLF1, modelled SA4 estimates)
Labour market conditions in the Hunter loosened through the first half of 2026 and have since tightened again, broadly in line with NSW. The unemployment rate rose over the first five months of 2026 to a peak of around 4.7% in May, and has since eased to 4.2%, similar to the NSW rate of 4.1% and close to its level a year earlier. Youth unemployment (15-24) in the Hunter followed the same pattern, peaking near 11.0% in May before easing to 9.7%, in line with the NSW rate of 9.7%. For national context, the Reserve Bank has discussed a ‘non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment’, or NAIRU, of around 4.5%. That estimate is national, unobservable and revised over time, and the Bank cautions against reducing full employment to a single statistic, so it is not a threshold for the Hunter and is offered only as a reference point. Note that the values expressed here use a 3-month moving average.
Data source: ABS Labour Force, Australia (table MLF1, modelled SA4 estimates)
Employment - Vacancies
Industry-level (SA4) employment reporting for the regions remains on pause at the ABS - the latest detailed industry cut for the Hunter is only current to August 2025. In the interim, we draw on the Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) published by Jobs and Skills Australia, which tracks online job advertisements and gives a more timely read on labour demand in the region - currently to July 2026. The two views below show how vacancies in the Hunter are tracking relative to NSW and peer regions, and where demand for labour is growing or easing by profession. Data from Jobs and Skills Australia is for the “Newcastle and Hunter” region, which corresponds to the two Hunter SA4s of ‘Hunter Valley excluding Newcastle’ and ‘Newcastle and Lake Macquarie’, but excludes the Mid-Coast LGA which is classified in the Mid North Coast SA4 region.
The chart below indexes online job vacancies for each region to 100 at January 2020. At July 2026 Hunter vacancies were 61% above their January 2020 level, compared with Sydney back at its own baseline and Australia 37% above; the Illawarra was 85% above. Each region is measured against its own baseline, so these lines compare growth since 2020 rather than vacancy levels. The Hunter index has fallen from around 173 a year earlier, so that growth is now unwinding.
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The next chart shows the change in vacancies by occupation over the most recent 12 months. Every major occupation group except Managers (+12) recorded fewer vacancies over the year, with the largest falls in Technicians and Trades Workers (-91), Clerical and Administrative Workers (-84) and Professionals (-73). Professionals remain the largest single source of advertised demand in the region. Machinery Operators and Drivers, which includes several occupations important to mining and freight activity, record the smallest number of vacancies of any group at around 290, and a further decline over the year. The occupation group is not a proxy for the mining industry: it also spans transport, logistics, construction and manufacturing. The IVI counts online advertisements only, so it does not capture recruitment through labour hire, internal appointments or word of mouth, all of which matter in the resources sector (IVI methodology).
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Data source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.