PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian resources sector could need as many as 40 000 additional workers by mid-2023, a new report commissioned by the Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) has found.

The report, undertaken by independent labour market specialist Pit Crew, has forecast continued constraints in most occupations over 2021 through to at least 2025.

The report noted that demand for skilled and experienced workers would increase in the resources sector over the next three years, placing pressure on available resources. However, it was the supply side of the labour market and the lack of availability of skilled workers which continued to be the fundamental constraint on the resources sector labour market in Western Australia.

Based on a combination of the range projects currently under construction requiring operations workforces, new projects reaching final investment decision and commencing construction and a consistent demand for shutdown resources it is likely the Western Australian labour market will require up to an additional 40 000 between mid-2021 and mid-2023.

In this situation a peak shortage of resources sector workers, totalling around 33 000, is anticipated in the third quarter of 2023.

CME CEO Paul Everingham said on Monday that the report made for telling reading. 

“When we last released workforce modelling in August 2020, our sector had a positive outlook coming out of the worst of Covid-19 restrictions and we predicted then a need for an extra 8 000 operational workers in the following 18 months, but this new research shows the situation is far more challenging than that,” Everingham said. 

“There are many factors contributing to this worsening skills shortage, which collectively equate to a perfect storm.  

“From a Western Australian mining and resources sector perspective, we have an unusual situation where shutdown work will remain unseasonably high in the short term to make up for lost time, and in parallel, operational and construction work is projected to grow strongly over the next two years on the back of strong commodity prices. 

“Meanwhile, there is hot competition for skilled and experienced workers across Australia from a variety of industries, which include significant government-backed infrastructure and construction projects under way around the country,” Everingham said. 

He noted that unlike previous construction-led growth periods for the resources sector, where up to 1 000 people a week were moving to Western Australia for work, there were now strong employment prospects in the Eastern states for people if they chose to stay at home.  

“And, of course, international skilled migration has all but halted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and there has been a very clear indication from government that Australia’s border won’t open up for at least another year.” 

The report highlights a variety of mining and resources sector roles that will experience acute shortages over the next three years, including mining engineers, metallurgists, underground surveyors, civil, electrical and mechanical engineers, geologists, geophysicists, auto electricians, diesel fitters, mechanical fitters, boiler makers, welders and drillers.

Everingham said the magnitude of the potential skills shortage underscored the need for industry and government to work together to ensure the continued strong recovery of both the Western Australia and Australian economies from the impacts of Covid-19. 

“Our sector is one of a number of industries that is facing these shortages and I know governments at all levels have a strong appetite to tackle this challenge as well,” Everingham said. 

“Collaborative efforts between industry and government, including  the upcoming Western Australian Skills Summit, are going to be crucial to finding targeted and innovative ways to combat the shortages across many industries. My sense is we will have to be prepared to pull all available levers to avoid the worst of the predicted shortages. 

“In our sector alone, there are A$140-billion of projects currently in the pipeline – opportunities that won’t be fully realised unless we can gain access to the right people with the right skills at the right time. 

“As this report makes clear, we simply aren’t going to be able to address our workforce needs within the talent pool that is currently available in Western Australia or, indeed, the country. Therefore it's essential government ‘leans in’ with a forward-looking plan on skills migration where it is in the national interest, and obviously is safe to do so.”

Everingham said that the flow-on effects of projects going undeveloped would be significant. Last year royalties from the mining and resources sector amounted to A$9.2-billion or nearly 29% of all Western Australian government revenue, and company tax paid on operations in Western Australia contributed strongly to federal Covid-19 support mechanisms like JobKeeper and JobSeeker.