Bankstown. Highest unemployment rate

Almost one in every two teens in the Canterbury-Bankstown area is out of work, with the region now boasting the nation's highest teenage unemployment rate. Forty-six per cent of 15-19-year-olds are unemployed, almost twice the national teenage unemployment rate of 25.8 per cent. Bankstown resident and Islamic Friendship Association spokesman, Keysar Trad, blamed employer prejudice against Muslims and people with Arabic-sounding names for the region's high unemployment rate. Federal Employment Participation Minister, Mark Arbib, said the region was one of a number hard hit by the global financial crisis. The problem was compounded in the Canterbury-Bankstown area because it has fewer people with university degrees, 11.4 per cent compared with 17.4 per cent nationally, and has more people employed in manufacturing and construction, according to The Daily Telegraph