As the rapid construction of new mines begins to slow, the focus will turn to engineers maintaing existing projects.
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22 August 2012
Skilled workers in Australia needed despite predicted slowdown
Predictions that the ongoing mining and construction boom in Australia will begin to slow in the near future will not affect the need for skilled workers in Australia, according to two employment specialists.
TrackMeBack.com and Engineers Australia both say the demand for skilled labour in Australia will continue to grow when the demand for the country's resources which has fuelled the country's economic success inevitably slows.
While much of the rest of the world lurched into an economic meltdown, Chinese fuelled demand for Australia's vast supplies of resources such as coal as well as iron ore, copper and other metals meant Australia managed to thrive while other economies struggled.
The only issue hindering Australia's success was a lack of workers necessary to encourage the growth. However, with many other countries' citizens eager to escape the dire conditions in their home countries, Australian immigration has eased much of the pressure.
Now many of the world's economies are beginning to recover, Chinese expansion is beginning to slow and as a result, Australia's growth is predicted to slow in time.
While this may result in a decrease in demand for certain industries, TrackMeBack and Engineers Australia say the demand for foreign engineers and other skilled workers will continue to grow as the focus switches from expansion to maintaining the country's many mining projects, citing the lack of domestic skilled labour available, just 50.6% of all engineers in the country are Australian.
"Employers are still finding it really difficult to fill engineering roles in Australia because the domestic supply of new engineering graduates has not been able to keep pace with increases in demand for a number of years," said Caroline Rafferty from TrackMeBack.com.
"We are still lagging way behind in terms of filling those gaps so working in Australia remains an excellent proposition for experienced UK engineers."
The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people lodge applications with the Australian Embassy.