Australia may have resources but it doesn’t have enough resources

The resources Australia has in the ground are plentiful but the human resources to develop the operations to dig them up are sparse in comparison.

A new study has raised the distress flag on Australia’s ageing technical workforce and competition from other resource developing countries as key threats to the mining industry’s workforce requirements.

 

Resources employment news website, The Resource Channel and communications and marketing specialists, Marketforce, recently combined forces to conduct research which found most countries that usually supply Australia with such workers are themselves experiencing, or expecting to experience, significant skills shortages.

The research covered employment difficulties for the resources industry in South and Central America, Ireland, Japan, Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

The researchers came to the conclusion that if it is to remain competitive Australia needs to realise it is not the only viable destination for qualified resource industry workers.

“Not only is seven of the world’s LNG producing countries planning to double their production in the coming decade, but the mining industries of South Africa, Canada, the United States and South America also cite significant growth plans, demanding more than 250,000 new entrants to the industry globally in the next decade,” The Resource Channel director Jody Elliott said.

“In other cases, like China and India, growth plans relate more to their economies, but still look to absorb the total of their own home-grown engineering and technical skills.”

The implication for Australia is that the majority of the target countries identified as potential sourcing options, such as South Africa, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States, become far less feasible options due to their own strategies.

According to The Resource Channel’s research, there is not one country that offers a potential strong supply of skilled labour.

The research concludes the current economic climate to anticipated growth plans for some areas may not eventuate in the short term.

It may also mean Australian organisations will need to adopt a more tactical short-term approach to engaging international candidates while affording them the opportunity to develop new skills locally.

“Not only does the Australian resource sector plan to significantly expand in the next decade, but the 5,000 or so replacements required each year to account for retirements and exits from the industry means employers will need to consider alternative sourcing options,” Elliott said.

“Essentially, it means far greater consideration needs to be placed on entry level opportunities for local labour – apprentices, graduates, trainees, and cross-skilling those from other sectors with transferable skills. Now is not the time to decrease opportunities in these areas – for any Australian resource sector employer.”

One important aspect highlighted by the research is resource producing countries in competition for the services of these professionals are experiencing or anticipating the same level growth as well as suffering the same lack of availability of skills as theier Australian counterparts.

The decrease in the number of engineering students is not only isolated to Australia.

It is also estimated that more than a quarter of technical professionals working for the energy and petroleum sector are older than 50, with the majority scheduled to retire in the next five years.

This will leave an alarming deficit of 5,000 petrotechnical staff a year.

The severity of this was demonstrated recently by the CEO of Caterpillar in the United States, who said that despite the high unemployment rate across the country, there is a desperate shortage of skilled workers, with many job vacancies going unfilled in some of the most depressed regions of the country.

There are a large number of potential sourcing channels available to Australia; however these could easily dissipate should competitor countries experience the growth being predicting.

Throw this into the mix of a global engineering skills shortage and Australian organisations will need to spend a good deal of time in front of the mirror as they work out how they can resource their operational and project needs.

“The research highlights that there is no one location that can be targeted as a total recruitment solution,” Elliott said.