End-of-year seasonal factors, trade wars and volatile commodity prices have again plagued the job vacancy market in the latter stages of 2018.
Following a similar trend to November, DFP Recruitment’s Mining and Resources Job Index revealed monthly figures for December were again on the slide.
Weighed down again by several negatives, the National Index for job vacancies fell by 3.3% in December.
However, overall analysis of 2018 shows an upward spiral in the market, with year-on-year job vacancies ending 6.1% higher in the Mining & Resources Sector for the year compared to where they ended in 2017.
Growth certainly slowed in the back half of the year and vacancies actually decreased over the last six months by 5.1%, wiping out much the strong growth from earlier in the year
Permanent job vacancies have been leading the way this year, up by 11.2% year-on-year, despite a 2.5% fall in December
Temporary/Contractor job vacancies have remained weak, ending down by 1.4% year-on-year, following a 4.6% fall in December.
Job opportunities fell in Western Australia in December by 1.9% after solid increases over the past 12 months, finishing up overall for 2018 by 13.8%.
Vacancies in Queensland continued to fall throughout the back end of year, down 7.9% in December, to record a 5% drop for the year.
Metal Ore Mining continues to have the greatest market share of vacancies, with 46.6% of all vacancies, however it was down by 6.9% for the final month of 2018.
Coal and Mineral Mining vacancies continue to drop and are down by 30.3% for the last 6 months of the year.
The Oil and Gas sector finished off the year positively up 2.8% in December to finish significantly up in 2018 by 16.3%.
Geologists, Geophysicists and Occupational Health and Welfare Professionals finished the year amongst the highest categories for growth.
“Longer term, it’s the Trades and Operators category that has achieved record high results since our research began in 2013,” DFP Recruitment CEO Robert van Stokrom said.
Click here to view DFP Recruitment’s latest Mining and Resources Jobs Index.
