Ambit Engineering Recruitment Rate and Salary Index - February 2010

Our Oil, Gas and Mining recruitment brand, Ambit Engineering Recruitment has just released their first WA Rate and Salary Index for 2010. Ambit is predicting that 2010 will see a resurgence in the WA mining and resources sector, driven by several key projects across the state ramping up.

While Ambit’s quarterly Salary Survey reveal that salaries in WA’s resources sector have remained flat for the past 10 months on the back of flat hiring activity, current business activity suggests that hiring levels will rise sharply in the next three months.

Salaries for more than 150 jobs in the resources sector are at the same levels now, as they were in reviews conducted May 2009 and October 2009.

Remuneration levels over the 10-month period are significantly lower – up to 15 percent less – than the rates paid in August 2008, before the global financial crisis took effect.

2010 however has brought renewed confidence in Australia’s resources sector, and with an estimated $200 billion in resources projects now scheduled, WA employers are expressing ‘intentions to hire’ - at rates suggesting the market is on the brink of resurgence.

Peter Acheson, CEO of Ambit Engineering Recruitment comments that by next month, the company’s Perth office will have twice as many jobs available as it had in April 2009.

While this number would bring Ambit’s activity levels back to relatively normal, Acheson comments that the number of employers who are intending to hire, in the next quarter, will shift the market to higher-than-usual levels.

“One client, alone, is seeking to hire about 150 new staff in the next six months,” Acheson says.

“If the anticipated lift in hiring activities is sustained, we could see the local resource pool fully committed by mid-year – at which point we will be turning to our national and international database to supply skilled candidates, especially for the contract roles that make up nearly 80 percent of the sector’s workforce,” he adds.

“As a consequence, we are likely to see remuneration start climbing back to 2008 levels in the second half of this year,” he says.

“Some key projects – such as Gorgon Gas – have an estimated life of 10+ years – which means that we are likely to be just at the beginning of a sustained boom for the resources sector and will provide a flow-on effect for the broader WA economy,” Acheson concludes.

For more information visit www.ambitengineering.com.au/salary-index