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Hamilton's employment agencies have downplayed rising youth unemployment as a seasonal variation and described the region's labour market as reasonably strong.
More than 17 per cent of people aged 15 to 19 years are looking for work - three times the overall unemployment rate.
Westvic Staffing Solutions chief executive, Miles Coverdale said most of the rise was due to seasonal variation as the latest figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics are for December 2011.
"At the end of the year we see a rush to Centrelink by young people as they finish their secondary or tertiary education," he said.
"We should see a rise in employment during January, February and March as those same people settle into employment.
"Our apprenticeship numbers have remained steady for a while, which is a good sign for the region."
Plumbing apprentice Nathan Surkitt has successfully made the transition from school to work and is enjoying the certainty of a planned career.
The 18-year-old from Macarthur has just started a three-year apprenticeship with Peter Graham Plumbing in Hamilton.
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