State Labor MPs and candidates have called on Premier Mike Baird to convene a jobs summit in response to the latest unemployment figures.
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Unemployment in the Hunter has risen by 6800 during the past year.
The call for a summit came from Labor candidate for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp and Labor candidate for Maitland Jenny Aitchison, while opposition spokeswoman for the Hunter Sonia Hornery also backed the call.
Opposition Leader John Robertson said the rise in employment in the Hunter followed a year of mass lay-offs at Hunter mines and at manufacturing companies such as Forgacs, Sandvik, UGL, Westrac and Downer EDI.
“To have 6800 more people out of work in the wider Hunter over the past year isn’t a blip – it’s a deeply worrying trend,” Mr Robertson said.
Ms Hornery called for the reintroduction of courses at TAFE at Maitland, Kurri Kurri and Glendale so people would not have to travel to Sydney for accreditation.
Ms Aitchison backed the call and said TAFE was an essential mechanism that enabled the workforce to be quickly redirected when change or diversification affected local industries.
“The state government should also be looking at procuring products and equipment locally, so the money people earn is also spent locally,” Ms Aitchison said.
“I believe the key to creating jobs lies in training and the special value in TAFE is its ability to retrain people too.
“I support the call for the state government to convene a jobs summit because the situation is so urgent.”
The Mercury contacted Maitland MP Robyn Parker but she would not comment.
