Queensland takes Western Australia’s top spot for jobs growth

According to Mining News Pro - This contributes to a quarterly increase of 13.5 per cent, with the trend expected to further improve, according to the DFP’s latest Mining and Resources Job Index report.

Jobs demand in Western Australia, meanwhile, suffered a fall of 2.1 per cent in March this year.

The DFP attributed the dip to the United States trade tariffs continuing to unsettle markets and convince Western Australian metal producers to defer or abandon employment initiatives.

Apart from job prospects, Western Australia is still dominating mining and resources in terms of its share of national vacancies, the DFP stated.

But that share continues to shrink while jobs growth in Western Australia falters and Queensland grows. It has fallen three per cent from 47.4 per cent to 44.4 per cent in 12 months.

Overall, job vacancies in the mining and resources sector have risen 1.3 per cent in March this year. Contingent work provided the bulk of additional job opportunities, rising by 3.1 per cent in March and 4.7 per cent for the quarter. Temporary and contract vacancies have now risen to 23.6 per cent over a 12-month period.

The real jobs growth was seen in oil and gas, where demand rose by 11.4 per cent last month. Annual growth for the sector is now at 93.3 per cent with demand doubling within a year, although it remains 22.5 per cent lower than four years ago.

Exploration has also had a remarkably strong run of growth, according to the DFP. A growth of 11.4 per cent last month takes the index to 127.15, the highest any subsector has ever reached.