Business Editor, The Age

The answer is the divide between the east and west of Melbourne is getting worse, The unemployment rate in the north western region stretching from Brunswick through broadmeadows out to the shire of Bulla is still 16 per cent, according the latest regional Bureau of Statistics figures. In the outer western region- that's Altona and Sunshine out to Melton- it's 15.1 per cent...All this has the federal Deet searching for new options before the chasm in Melbourne employment opportunities reaches the proprtions of the north and south of Britain. To give an example, in the manufacturing industry in the morth-west of Melbourne from 1989 to 1994 there was a loss of 9,200 jobs. "Large numbers of companies have just closed down, they won't be back. That's again different from previous recessions. In the past they have put off a lot of people and kept going, this time around, given the overall industry restructuring, they just couldn't compete, so they have just closed down. *(west & north taxed east isn't). Stephen Dabkowski Business Editor Sunday Age 19/3/1995