The DFP mining job index that we track is out for May and the recent bounce is over:
Welcome to the latest edition of the DFP Mining and Resources Job Index where we find the National Job Index fell 5.5% in May 2014. The rise seen in April was short lived with commodity prices, global supply fluctuations, and rising costs impacting the development of new projects and thereby contributing to the decline in May. Western Australia’s domination of all Mining and Resource job advertising fell back slightly from last month while the Queensland market continues to suffer with vacancies being halved over the past 11 months.
In some other findings:
The Metal Ore Mining sub sector continues to be of critical importance generating 41.2% of all new job opportunities
Oil and Gas Extraction remains a major focus of growth and the sector now has a 22% share of the market vacancies
Engineering opportunities continues to remain soft, following a steep fall in demand for Engineers over 11 months
Non production roles have experienced a lift since March
The index should continue to trend lower for another two years. Full report here.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
