Business Hunter says the region's unemployment rate is "defying gravity" despite rising cost pressures and housing shortages.
Australian Bureau of Statistics regional labor force estimates for April show the 12-month trend jobless rate in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie fell from 3.5 per cent to 3.3 per cent, 0.4 points below the national level.
The trend rate in the rest of the Hunter dropped from 4 per cent in March to 3.9 per cent in April.
The monthly jobless rate was just 2.9 per cent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and 1.7 per cent in the rest of the region, though these figures are volatile due to small sample sizes.
Business Hunter chief executive Bob Hawes said it was unusual for the Hunter jobless rate to fall while the national rate was rising.
"We're typically a little softer than the national figure, so this is an interesting development and something we'll continue to track," he said.
"These rates continue to be very low by regional historical standards and show the labour market is still tight at a time when the Jobs and Skills Australia internet job vacancy figures remain steady at around 6700, which is twice the level we experienced pre-COVID."
HunterNet chief executive Ivan Waterfield said a lot of the organisation's 140 member employers were "crying out for new people or trying to retain people".
"They're paying a lot of overtime and reverting people onto shifts," he said.
"Many of our members are increasing their turnover but doing it with fewer people.
"The economic headwinds are strong, but people are pushing through them."
The Hunter workforce, which includes all those working or looking for jobs, shrank from 404,000 to 390,000 in April.
The pool of unemployed people across the region plummeted from 15,100 to 9500.
Mr Hawes said it was logical to attribute the workforce movements to a combination of factors, including seasonal workers losing their jobs or not looking for work for other reasons.
The total number of people employed fell 10,000 in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and rose 2000 in the rest of the Hunter.
"The figures show there is still volatility in the employment market, but the underlying circumstance remains there are positions out there being advertised and the pool of potential labour to fill those roles remains small," Mr Hawes said.
The participation rate, a measure of people in work or looking for it, was 69.9 per cent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and 62.3 per cent in the rest of the region.
"The participation rates across the region remain strong, although there was a fall in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie reflective of the decrease in the overall workforce in those areas," Mr Hawes said.
"The figures remain well above the pre-COVID figure of 66.5 per cent in March 2020."
Mr Hawes said the youth unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds across the region remained well below 10 per cent.
"Youth unemployment in the Hunter Valley dropped to 3.2 per cent from 7.4 per cent in March, while in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie it was 8.9 per cent, very close to the March figure of 8.8 per cent.
"It's encouraging to see over the last 12 months the average figure for youth unemployment has dropped from 8.3 per cent to 7 percent across the region."
The monthly figures show 5700 young people were looking for work in April, a decrease on the 7600 in March and well below the 9400 who were in the market in March 2020.
