AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the high share of employees in west and south-western Sydney with jobs that could not be done at home, such as hospitality, retail and construction, contributed to employment losses in those areas.

“Those types of jobs tended to suffer more,” he said. “In other parts of Sydney, especially the north and the east, there are more white-collar workers who could just relocate to working from home.”

There has also been a sharp deterioration in female workforce participation in Sydney districts subject to the most stringent lockdowns. Worst affected was the Inner South West, where the share of women aged over 15 years with a job plummeted from 58.6 per cent in June to 47.7 per cent in October, the lowest in over a decade.

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The slump is part of a statewide fall in female workforce participation during the lockdown. One factor driving this trend was big job losses in female-dominated industries hard-hit by pandemic restrictions such as retail and hospitality. Some women also withdrew from paid work during lockdowns because of additional household caring responsibilities, especially online schooling.

But Dr Oliver said he expected a strong recovery in employment across Sydney now that pandemic restrictions had been eased.

Analysis by stockbroker CommSec shows employment in Sydney’s Inner South West declined by 50,200 between the onset of the pandemic in February 2020 and October 2021, the biggest decline in Australia for that type of statistical district (called SA4 by the ABS). The Inner South West lost 16.5 per cent of jobs in that period.

CommSec chief economist Craig James attributed the area’s big job slump to employment losses in hospitality and manufacturing.