Vacancies for jobs offering salaries of more than $120,000 a year are at the highest level in four years.
Demand for mining engineers is so strong the resources giants BHP and Rio Tinto are offering six-figure pay packages in greater numbers.
Engineering job vacancies have surged by 23.7 per cent during the past year with demand for scientists, including geologists, rising by 23.5 per cent.
Vacancies for jobs offering salaries of more than $120,000 a year are at the highest level in four years (iron ore workers in Western Australia’s Pilbara region pictured)
Demand for mining engineers is so strong the resources giants BHP, Rio Tinto are offering six-figure pay packages in greater numbers
To increase their chances, prospective mining engineers must be prepared to work in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara and Kimberley regions, where the iron ore projects are located, or at least be open-minded about being a fly-in, fly-out worker.
CommSec economist Ryan Felsman said mining engineering jobs had jumped by more than a third during the past year as strong demand from China for coal and iron ore had helped the mining giants recover from a 2016 slump.
‘We’ve seen a significant rebound,’ he told Daily Mail Australia today.
‘Certainly commodity prices have lifted and that’s coincided with a pick-up, more broadly, in job ads.’
Job advertisements on the Seek website, for the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, have risen to the highest level in four years while engineering job vacancies are at a five-year high.
Engineering job vacancies have surged by 23.7 per cent during the past year with demand for scientists, including geologists, rising by 23.5 per cent
‘The number of opportunities in terms of jobs around the mining states have increased by an average of 93 per cent from their low in 2016,’ Mr Felsman said.
‘It’s off a low base of course but what we’re seeing is this increase in terms of demand for those jobs.
‘With increasing capital spending, they’ve been employing skilled-type workers, so people in geo-science, engineers.’
The federal Department of Jobs and Small Business today revealed the number of job advertisements for engineers had surged by 23.7 per cent in the year to May 2018.
Demand for science professionals and veterinarians had risen by 23.5 per cent during the same period as job ads for motor mechanics rose by 21.3 per cent.
The roll-out of the federal government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme and major road and rail projects in Sydney and Melbourne had also helped boost demand in the human resources and construction sectors, which saw job ad numbers increase by 17.1 per cent and 13 per cent.
Despite the stronger demand for mining engineers, Mr Felsman said Australia was unlikely to be experiencing resources boom.
‘I wouldn’t call it a mining boom,’ he said.
‘We’re never going to go back to the cyclical highs we had around 2010, 2011, that was the peak as far as the mining boom’s concerned.’
Demand for science professionals and veterinarians (vet nurse Jo Loader pictured) have risen by 23.5 per cent during the same period
While the number of job ads across Australia are risen by 5.8 per cent during the past year, demand for motor mechanics had risen by 21.3 per cent
On another cautionary note, the Department of Jobs and Small Business’s internet vacancy index fell 0.9 per cent in May following a drop of 0.8 per cent in April, although it was still 5.8 per cent higher over the year.
The news was released as Telstra sacked 8,000 workers as part of a $1 billion cost-cutting plan.
During the past year, demand for farm workers, loggers and gardeners has slumped by 19.6 per cent, with the number of job ads for sales representatives falling by 11 per cent and demand for cleaners sliding by 10.4 per cent.
The federal Department of Jobs and Small Business today revealed the number of job advertisements for engineers had surged by 23.7 per cent in the year to May 2018 (Glass Door summary of job ads pictured)