Industry insights on skills needs
The Mining, Drilling and Civil Infrastructure IRC's 2019 Skills Forecast identifies three key drivers that will influence the future skills required by the Mining, Drilling and Civil Infrastructure industry workforce.
- A steady economic environment: Global demand for resources continues, and there are high levels of State and Federal investment in large civil infrastructure projects, particularly in road and rail with the Australian Infrastructure Audit 2019 showing there was $130 billion of transport infrastructure projects under construction in 2018.
- Changing technology: As the uptake of automation, digital technologies and prefabrication increase, advanced digital and cognitive skills are becoming more valuable and enabling the ability to adjust to new ways of working in the sector.
- Safety and risk management: Heightened focus on safety and environmental threats is demanding increased awareness of and responsibility for business risks. Nano-diesel particulate matter (nDPM) control, fatigue management and the increasing importance of a social licence to operate are redefining how and which kinds of businesses firms operate.
In the Mining, Drilling and Civil Infrastructure IRC's 2019 Skills Forecast, stakeholders suggest that due to the sector's sensitivity to economic cycles it can be difficult for employers to attract and retain skilled workers in downturn periods. The Rebuilding Australia: A Plan for a Civil Infrastructure Led Recovery report commissioned by the Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) finds the high cyclicality of infrastructure rollouts often presents an unsustainable workload for contractors, with shortages of skills in upturns and loss of skills from the industry in downturns. Forecasts for civil work, exemplified by the coming wave in transport-related investment, indicate that the boom and bust cycles of the pipeline have persisted and will likely continue over the medium run. The report also states national civil construction work done in the 2020 financial year was valued at around $65bn.
The CCF National Skills Survey of industry members identified a wide spread of occupations they find it difficult to recruit for, with more than 30 occupations nominated by survey participants. Plant and machinery operators, supervisors, engineers and project managers were the most frequent responses from respondents. The Skills Priority List shows occupations with an estimated strong future demand related to civil engineering and mining include: surveyor, civil engineer, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, mining engineer, civil engineering technician, earthmoving plant operator, backhoe operator, bulldozer operator, excavator operator, grader operator, and loader operator. There are also a number of cross-sectoral occupations from electrotechnology and construction. The CCF survey also finds an ageing workforce, a shortage of locally trained workers, and a lack of appropriate training were challenges cited as impacting on civil infrastructure firms’ recruitment activities in the future.
Australia’s National Resources Workforce Strategy states that the demand for new and emerging skills is on the rise, driven by the incorporation of new technologies in resource project lifecycles and in the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, and by emerging sectors like critical minerals and hydrogen. The integration of technology was projected to increase new jobs by 80,000 across the METS sector by 2030 before COVID-19 and increase the sector’s economic impact by approximately $52 billion. Demand is increasing within existing resources sector occupations for additional skills including creativity, change management, data analysis, digital literacy, design thinking, stakeholder analysis, active listening and learning, and strategic planning. The Australian Resources and Energy Group is undertaking regular forecasting studies to map the expected growth in the workforce, and where shortages may emerge. Examples of how technology is augmenting and shaping future roles in Advantage Australia include shotfirers using drones and drivers operating automated vehicles. The report states employees such as mine designers, drone pilots, drivers and equipment operators do overlapping work, and hybrid roles will continue to emerge requiring skills from multiple fields, such as data analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence. Analysis conducted on behalf of the Minerals Council of Australia by Deloitte Access Economics finds the mining and METS sector directly supported 483,499 full time equivalent jobs in Australia in 2019-20.
The Advantage Australia report states more than 1,000 apprenticeships will be created in partnership with the Australian Government through the Mining Skills Organisation Pilot, and around 5,000 new positions over the next few years when combined with other incentives, mostly in regional Australia. Australia’s National Resources Workforce Strategy finds approximately half of the resources workforce are based in rural and regional areas. Resource development can support regional communities through procurement from local businesses, supply chains and investments in local infrastructure. Three examples of government initiatives to increase opportunities for people in regional areas included in the strategy are:
- The Future of Work Partnership. The program is a partnership with BHP that over the next five years will provide training for up to 1,000 people through short courses or participating in workplace integrated learning through an Advanced Apprenticeship.
- The Barkly Regional Deal between the Australian Government, the Northern Territory Government and the Barkly Regional Council includes the development of a Regional Workforce Plan to identify and align training and employment opportunities and maximise local and Indigenous employment.
- The development of five new strategic basin plans, starting with the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory, and the Galilee and North Bowen basin in central Queensland, which will consider how to maximise the benefits to local communities through employment, procurement and increased economic activity in the regions.
The report also highlights industry and government efforts to increase gender balance, and career and training opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The resources sector is a strong employer of Indigenous Australians, comprising 3.7% of the current workforce. This is above the national average of 1.7%, with the Indigenous population making up roughly 3% of Australia’s population.
The survey of mining executives examined by KPMG in the Australian Mining Risk Forecast lists community relations and social licence to operate in second position this year, increasing from sixth position in the previous year. Mine 2021 states environment, social and governance (ESG) represents one of the mining industry’s most significant opportunities for long-term value creation, building trust and sustainable growth, with the top three reasons being increased shareholder value, product and operations differentiation, and improved access to capital. Examples provided include the Port of Newcastle accessing a sustainability-linked loan, which delivers a reduced borrowing rate if the port fulfils its environmental and social commitments, and the Alcoa and Rio Tinto joint venture producing low-carbon aluminium using a process that generates oxygen, replacing direct greenhouse gas emissions from traditional smelting which attracts a premium that has increased from US$10-$15 to US$59 this year due to increased consumer demand.
