Mandurah reacts to unemployment crisis

While Australia's unemployment rate fell to 5.72 per cent in July, Mandurah’s is close to double at 10.5 per cent.

And the picture is worse for jobseekers under 25.

However, statistics only tell part of the story, and many of the thousands of jobseekers looking for work in Mandurah have told their personal stories.

After finishing high school Darien Kern, 21, was six-months into his chef’s apprenticeship when the restaurant he was working for went broke.

Since then, he has found it impossible to find another apprenticeship position in a kitchen and has drifted through casual jobs for the last few years.

“Honestly, it’s been a constant switch between working and not working and trying to find somewhere solid,” he said.

“There are jobs going around, but all the places that are looking for people, the jobs there they say are not suitable for younger people.

“It’s either not suitable or you need 6000 bits of paper saying you are suitable.”

Mr Kern said it was hard keeping positive when many businesses didn’t acknowledge job applications or bother getting back to him.

“It’s like a feedback of negativity, one knock back leads to the next,” he said.

“I’m working with a job search provider and all they do is say I should apply for 20 jobs a month, they look at your resume and that’s all they do.

“But my personal opinion is that the government is trying to force these applications into so many businesses that businesses get flooded and they get sick of looking at them.”

Public service workers, such as teachers and nurses, said the government’s freeze on employing new staff made it almost impossible to find work.

Enrolled nurse Kim Bikaunieks said it was almost impossible survive.

“What casual work I do have is under-paid and I’m struggling for shifts,” she said.

“I have been finding it very hard to find employment with decent wages.

“The government freeze has made it impossible for employment and to rub salt in the wound, the health department had been advertising for nurses over in Ireland for WA-based hospitals while the government freeze sector is on.”

Experienced nurse Nicky MacLeod said she the job freeze made finding work hard.

“I have been nursing for over 20 years and have management experience,” she said.

“I scrimp by with casual night shifts, maybe two or three a month.”

Teacher Jennifer Jean said she had to work away from Mandurah.

“I'm a teacher so I have the issue of oversupply of teachers, too, but 3.5 years of full-time teaching elsewhere and I still can't get a job in Mandurah,” she said.

“When I say Mandurah, I have applied to every school advertisement between Rockingham and Dawesville and Pinjarra.

“I live three hours away from work, but just want to be with my friends and family.”

Many others said they had to travel away from the city to find work.

But James Bowden said he had found a solution after struggling to find work.

“Well I got sick of in and out of work.

“You get depressed.

“You try even harder, still hits hard every time you want to do anything, take more hours, less pay.

“And you still lose the battle… Well, I quit the job market game and started my own cleaning business.

“A few months in, never looked back.”