Salaries are on their way up again as mining jobs are coming back in WA

Job hirings in Western Australia has seen an increase by about 70 percent this year compared to 2016 when the state was hit by job losses. Now, the jobs are coming back across mining and all other resources.

Recruitment group Harrier Human Capital reported an increase in employment as mining jobs are heading back Down Under. It revealed a more positive sentiment in the marketplace this year compared to last.

Harrier Human Capital CEO Kelly Quirk compared the present situation to last year, saying 2016 was “pretty disastrous” with minimal hiring. Permanent employment was also little as it was mostly contract work.

The number of jobs dropped from between 350 and 400 three years ago to 50 to 60 new occupations one year ago. “What we were seeing last year was any hiring was done in healthcare, government, education, not for profit, and specifically around the age care sector,” Business Insider quotes Quirk as saying, adding that was the only thing that propped up the economy.

Jobs in Western Australia

The increase in job numbers primarily comes from big operators and contractors. Quirk noted a turnaround that was mainly led by iron ore and coal and continued momentum in gold.

The recruitment group has also reported a 54 percent increase in refinement levels and production. The jobs come from directional drilling and re-drilling services, cementing services, mine draining and pumping services.

Salaries dropped when the mining industry struggled. There had also been a reversal in interstate migration, with several people, who came to Western Australia for jobs, heading back to eastern states where the housing boom has been creating jobs.

But salaries are on their way up again in Western Australia. Pit Crew Management Consulting Services’ Peter Dyball said the market is rebalancing and is returning back to equilibrium after several years of cost cutting.

“A lot of organisations having cut fairly close to the bone, are now looking at how they move forward and the roles which need to be filled, and so are making some very targeted placements within their ranks,” he said. However, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science has revised its forecast for Australia’s 2016-2017 resource exports down to $205 billion, which was 4.6 percent lower than it previously predicted. It also warned about further weakness in iron ore prices in the years to come because of the falling steel production in China.

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