A new report has highlighted the “dire” state of Victoria’s jobs market, with the vast majority of new jobs being reliant on taxpayer funds at a time of record government debt.

The analysis of employment data, carried out by the Australian Industry Group, found that almost nine out of every 10 new jobs created in Victoria since the pandemic were in the 'non-market' sector.

Of the more than 174,500 new jobs created in Victoria in 2023-24, just 20,500 were in the market sector.

This means the remaining 154,000 – 88 per cent – were created either in the public sector or industries overwhelmingly funded by taxpayers, such as education and health.

This compares to the 34.7 per cent of job growth in the non-market sector prior to the pandemic.

Victoria’s private sector job growth was signif

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