Newcastle's unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in April, on par with pre-COVID levels, as job ads reached a new record high.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data for April show a slight fall in the number of people in work in Newcastle, down 2400 to 180,500, after JobKeeper subsidies ran out at the end of March.
But the city's April jobless rate of 5.8 per cent was slightly below the rates recorded in February 2020 (6.0) and March 2020 (5.8), before lockdowns put tens of thousands out of work.
The jobless rate was down from 7.6 per cent in January, which was the last time the ABS reported a Newcastle jobless figure it regarded as statistically reliable.
Unemployment peaked at 11 per cent in Newcastle in June last year.
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The latest jobs figures are consistent with a record number of advertised vacancies in the Hunter in April.
The National Skills Commission's Internet Vacancy Index for last month shows a moving average of 5128 jobs advertised in the region across three major employment websites. It was the first time the index had passed 5000 in its 11-year history. It was below 2200 a year ago.
The Newcastle Heraldreported two weeks ago that the hospitality industry was crying out for workers.
Other job categories with high vacancies include clerical and call centre workers, carers and aides, doctors and nurses, sales workers, machine operators and drivers, and teaching professionals.
The ABS said its April jobless rate for the rest of the Hunter, outside Newcastle, was not reliable due to a small sample size, but the 12-month moving average was 5.9 per cent.
Business Hunter, formerly Hunter Business Chamber, said the ABS data showed unemployment rates across the region had remained relatively stable for April, despite the end of JobKeeper.
"This is in line with the state and national trends, which showed only small variations in the unemployment rate between March and April," Business Hunter boss Bob Hawes said. "Local hospitality and other businesses have placards out looking for workers."
The national jobless rate was 5.7 per cent, just above the NSW rate of 5.5 per cent.
Mr Hawes said he remained "puzzled" by continuing high youth unemployment in the Hunter.
"While the youth rates have been coming down since the start of the year, the monthly figures of 13.9 per cent for the Hunter and 11.7 per cent for Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are at odds with other indicators that suggest there are jobs in the market," he said.
He said the figures could be due to a "lag" while people received training before finding work in a new industry.
