Australia’s booming industries

Mining, Resources & Energy

Mining, Resources & Energy was the nation’s leading industry for job ad growth with an astonishing increase of 67.7% in job opportunities year-on-year. Contributing to this growth were the 17,000+ new roles being advertised on SEEK when compared to the year prior.

Donna Ison, Principal Consultant at recruitment company Davidson, says the industry is on the up. “There’s definitely more movement in the resources industry with exploration, production and maintenance activity all expected to increase,” she says.

A look across the country:

Growth has been primarily driven by the mining-rich states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, which recorded the highest contribution to the national growth in the industry, accounting for 30.1% of the total growth in job opportunities.

Trades & Services

There was little time to ‘down tools’ in the booming Trades & Services industry last year. It was among the fastest-growing industries on SEEK with a 23.3% increase in job opportunities. The industry recorded more than 33,000 new roles year-on-year and the average advertised salary was $64,227.

With the Federal Government pledging a $75 billion infrastructure investment over the next 10 years, demand for trades shows little sign of slowing down.

“Huge public infrastructure projects, such as the multi-billion-dollar metro rail tunnel projects in Sydney and Melbourne, will specifically boost the construction sector over the next eight to 10 years,” says Adam Shapley, Senior Regional Director for Hays Trades & Labour.

A look across the country:

While every state and territory recorded growth, this was primarily driven by the eastern states Queensland (7.1%), New South Wales (6.1%) and Victoria (4.6%).