13 May 2014
Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian
The national index has recorded its first positive result for the year, a rise of 4.3 per cent in April.
DFP recruitment services chief executive Robert van Stokrom said the rise in the DFP mining and resources job index was consistent with a general increase in employment conditions, with a 2.2 per cent rise nationally reported in ANZ’s April figures.
“Increased hiring activity in the resources sector as a result of the recent funding approval on the Roy Hill project in Western Australia coupled with staffing demand surrounding the Ichthys project in Darwin are some of the contributors to this rise,” he said.
Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill project recently finalised a $US7.2bn funding package for the iron ore operation, which already has 2500 people working on its construction. This will swell to 3600 at peak construction.
Mr van Stokrom said the April data showed that demand for mining and resources personnel in Queensland had stabilised.
Western Australia’s share of mining and resource job advertising fell back from the 60 per cent record set last month.
Queensland still holds second place and the Northern Territory is growing.
“The metal ore mining sub-sector continues to be of critical importance to the mining and resource industry, generating 40 per cent of all new job opportunities,” Mr van Stokrom said. “As we expected, oil and gas extraction continues to increase its market share, which is now at 22 per cent, up from 18.9 per cent in June 2013.”
The data also showed that engineering rose 1.4 per cent.
Courtesy of The Australian