A new report from the Brotherhood of St Laurence found the Central West had the 12^th best youth unemployment rate nationally, while the Orana and the Far West regions were even better, ranking eighth.

The Central West improved from a 13.8 per cent unemployment rate among young people in January 2016 to just 8.5 per cent two years later.

The Orana and Far West region, which has traditionally been one of the worst for unemployment for those aged 15-24, cut its rate from 18.4 per cent in January 2016, to just 8 per cent at the start of this year.

Both regions were significantly below the national average for youth unemployment of 12.2 per cent but still higher than the overall unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent.

The CEO of apprenticeship and recruitment services provider Skillset Craig Randazzo said the results were encouraging and showed the regions boasted strong economies and good employers.

“Skillset Workforce staff are telling me they have seen very encouraging signs with the younger cohort,” Mr Randazzo said.

“Some of the industries that our young people have gone into include engineering, horticulture, mechanical trades, construction, childcare IT and retail.

“These represent some of the heavy-hitters in our region who are hiring young people.”

Mr Randazzo said they began focusing their programs for pre-employment and pre-apprenticeship on giving young people some of the basic skills employers were looking for.

“Traditionally we have heard from employers that the reason they won’t hire younger staff is because they are worried about attitude but also they are looking for skills and experience,” he said.

“They are looking for someone who will turn up on time, is trustworthy, and wants to be there but also has those skills.

“We started these programs in 2016 when the youth unemployment rate was so high. At the time it was more than two and a half times the regional unemployment rate.”

That effort has paid off, and in the first two and a half months of this year alone, Skillset has placed 30 people aged between 15 and 24 years.

Despite the positive improvement, Mr Randazzo said it was important not to get complacent.

“This is very encouraging but the rate is still double the overall unemployment rate. Eight per cent is still too high and there is still a lot of work to do,” he said.

The news was much worse for some parts of Australia, with youth unemployment rates above 20 per cent including the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven but the worst result was Outback Queensland, where there was a 67.1 per cent rate, up from 32.6 per cent two years ago.

Nationally more than 264,000 young people aged 15 to 24 were unemployed, making up 36 per cent of all unemployment in Australia.