Young people and women will be the biggest casualties from the employment cull.

MOTHERS are bearing the brunt in the recession with the rate of female unemployment more than quadrupling in some areas of Sydney in just 12 months.

Retailers sent out a stern warning to the Rudd Government that job losses, reduced trading hours and higher prices will be the inevitable result of new overtime rules that come into effect from next year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures revealed working mothers are already feeling the pressure. A year ago female unemployment on the Northern Beaches was 0.6 per cent and by April this year had reached 5.2 per cent.

Female unemployment went from 5.2 per cent to 12.5 per cent in Fairfield and Liverpool and from 4.9 per cent to 10.1 per cent in Canterbury and Bankstown.

Economists say women were over-represented in part-time work and are traditionally the first jobs to go in a downturn.

Young people and women will be the biggest casualties from the employment cull.

Woolworths and Coles, warn that as many as 5000 jobs are on the line.

With forecast unemployment already at 8.5 per cent, the threat of further job losses is a direct challenge for the Rudd Government which won power promising to replace John Howard’s WorkChoices laws with worker-friendly awards which, when they start coming into force from January 1, will force bosses to pay much higher penalty rates.

excerpts from news.com.au article