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Australia – Engineering job vacancies decline for 30 consecutive months

01 August 2014

Job vacancies for engineers in Australia have declined for 30 consecutive months, according to the latest figures from the Department of Employment (DoE), reports sourceable.net.

The DoE’s July 2014 Vacancies Report indicates that engineering vacancies in June 2014 fell to 3,033, less than a quarter of the +13,000 job vacancies for engineers in December 2011, before the 30-month run of job declines began.

While total employment opportunities for engineers have fallen throughout Australia, the picture varies considerably from state to state, with New South Wales (NSW) and the Northern Territory logging modest gains in the three months from April to June, and Tasmania seeing a surge in April and May, when job vacancies surged by more than +6%.

South Australia logged the biggest decline between April and June, with job vacancies for engineers falling by more than -4% every month. Queensland and Western Australia also saw three months of consecutive negative growth during the April to June period.

NSW remains the state with the large number of vacancies with 33.5% of the national total. Queensland comes in second with 21.9%, followed by Western Australia and Victoria with 19.6% and 18.4%, respectively. The four states collectively account for 93.4% of all engineering job vacancies throughout Australia.

This data from the Department of Employment is consistent with the findings from Engineers Australia’s Recruitment Difficulties Survey published earlier this year, which indicated that the number of employers struggling to source engineers had fallen to its lowest level in the publication’s eight year history.

Stephen Durkin, CEO of engineering firm Engineers Australia, said the dismal jobs figures exemplify the need for the country to exercise greater foresight with respect to infrastructure planning, in order to smooth out the highly cyclical nature of employment in the engineering sector.

“This trend of booms followed by busts is a direct result of Australia’s historical approach to infrastructure investment. Engineers Australia strongly believes we need a long term, co-ordinated and planned approach rather than a fragmented, project-driven approach to deliver on the federal government’s ambitious infrastructure agenda.”