Seek figures reveal resources jobs turnaround

Workers at BHP’s Olympic Dam. Picture: BHP

The Australian labour market is undergoing yet another fundamental change. And that change is full of surprises as it signals where the current action is in the economy.

Seek is our largest employment advertising vehicle, albeit that all its advertisements are on line.

The table in the Seek annual report compares new job advertisements in August 2017 to August 2016.

In recent years we have had enormous increases in staffing in government, defence, accounting, sales and similar occupations but, at least in terms of new job advertisements in Seek, they are well back in the field.

By far the biggest source of new job advertisements in Australia is mining, resources and energy. There has been a 72 per cent rise in job advertisements in the sector in August 2017 compared to August 2016. For an industry that was in deep employment depression that’s a huge turnaround and is a pointer to where the share market action is going to be in the coming year.

My guess is that the mining employment resurgence means three things.

First, many of the cutbacks in mining staff went too far and the companies have been forced to restore some of their staff positions.

Second there are now a lot of new projects out there — they aren’t the big projects that dominated the boom but they are very profitable brownfields expansions.

And thirdly the two states that have lagged the nation, Western Australia and Queensland, will be the focus of the mining resurgence, so expect them to perform much better in the next 12 months.

And don’t forget South Australia where the sleeper in the BHP portfolio is Olympic Dam, which will expand dramatically in the next few years on the back of battery and electricity-driven demand.

Next on the list is another area that has not been popular — science and technology.

That’s good news for the nation because it’s an area where we need forward thrust.

And right behind it is farming, animals and conservation. The agricultural industry is another sleeper that has been doing much better in recent times, depending on climate.

There is no doubt that better mineral and farm prices have contributed to the improved sense of optimism on both farms and in the mines. But note that conservation is classified with agriculture. A lot of young people are seeking employment in that area.

And there is also a greater awareness of the importance of science and technology. To see two of our key industries, mining and agriculture, plus the future growth sector, science and technology, all on the employment rise is good pointer for the nation.

Not far behind mining, resources and energy and science and technology is engineering which is another area that has been greatly depressed.

A large number of highly-skilled people who have been retrenched or have left large organisations are now in the consulting business, so that is also on the rise.

Down the bottom are all the groups you expect to see such as retail, banking, call centres, insurance, superannuation and advertising. These are the boom industries of former years and many of the companies in those industries are planning major reductions in staff as a result of developments in computerisation and artificial intelligence.

I notice government employment is low on the table. I fear that is misleading because governments are big advertisers in print rather than on line.

The biggest employment fall was in advertising, arts and media, down 14 per cent. Here in the media business it is all about retrenchment, not hiring. But that sort of fall is going to cause long-term problems for the industry because the skills needed to bring it forward may not be there.

But even in the worst area of employment area there is hope and Roy Morgan Research sets out a platform where traditional areas of media can exploit their greatest asset — trust.