SCORES of temporary jobs have opened to ease the economic blow of the coronavirus across the south-west.
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There will be seven new positions in Warrnambool, 12 in Moyne Shire and 43 in Corangamite Shire through the state government's Working for Victoria fund.
It comes as nearly 1500 jobs and $1.74 million in wages were lost in Warrnambool alone in less than a month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
READ MORE: Virus wipes jobs, $4.3m in wages
Warrnambool chief executive Peter Schneider said most of the positions were in the community development area with a focus on assisting the city's disadvantaged.
"At the outset of the pandemic, council's preference was to redeploy staff to areas of need," he said.
"Rather than create a lot of short-term, new positions through Working for Victoria, council's priority now is to have our staff who were stood down, return to work.
"The roles of staff who were stood down do not meet the Jobs for Victoria program criteria."
Under the scheme the councils will provide jobs for six months for unemployed people - whether they have lost their jobs due to the impacts of coronavirus or have been without work for a longer period of time.
Moyne Shire mayor, Cr Daniel Meade said the $500 million initiative was matching people that had lost their jobs with employers who needed additional staff.
"Council was successful in applying for the fund after it was announced last month," Cr Meade said.
"This is great news for those residents who are currently looking for work, as well as the wider community who will benefit from the services of these additional positions, supporting our shire through the recovery of the pandemic."
Moyne Shire will offer roles in business recovery and support, tourism and marketing, regulation and compliance, communications and IT, and community facilities and maintenance.
Meanwhile, 43 positions have opened up at Corangamite Shire Council in a variety of skilled and unskilled roles, chief executive Andrew Mason said.
"Working for Victoria will fund positions for six months, and council will fund many of the jobs for a further six months," he said.
The positions will be funded by $2.3 million from Working for Victoria and $1.4 million from council. Mr Mason said no existing council jobs would be negatively affected.
"These are new roles that would not have existed under our previous plans," he said.
Mr Mason said some successful candidates might have the opportunity of ongoing employment at the end of their tenure, but all would "definitely have added skills and experience".
Mayor Neil Trotter said the council was pleased to be working with the Victorian government on the initiative.
"Twelve months from now, our local workforce will have a greater depth of skill and the community will have benefited from the work that is done during this coming year," he said.
The positions are only available to people who have registered with Working for Victoria and provided information about their skills, experience and job preferences.
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