jon83 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I came over this article today: http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2015/03/australias-historical-low-skills-shortages/ It's an interesting read, and it looks like there's not much of a skill shortage in Australia nowadays. Rather the opposite. Not good news for people who are interested in migrating I'd say. In best case it means salaries will be under pressure, and in worst case finding a job will be a real challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldcoastMAD Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I came over this article today: http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2015/03/australias-historical-low-skills-shortages/ It's an interesting read, and it looks like there's not much of a skill shortage in Australia nowadays. Rather the opposite. Not good news for people who are interested in migrating I'd say. In best case it means salaries will be under pressure, and in worst case finding a job will be a real challenge. They can make statics look however they want. The employment projections from the .gov site look healthy to me...but I'm no expert. My field is projected a 16% increase in vacancies over the next 5 years..that cant be bad? http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/EmploymentProjections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon83 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Good point regarding statistics. I'm hoping your statistics are right. My field (ICT) is also projected a 16% increase according to those estimates. But at the same time I have the impression a lot of people are struggling to find jobs at the moment. Especially people fresh out of uni. What's your field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldcoastMAD Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Good point regarding statistics. I'm hoping your statistics are right. My field (ICT) is also projected a 16% increase according to those estimates. But at the same time I have the impression a lot of people are struggling to find jobs at the moment. Especially people fresh out of uni. What's your field? ICT AS well! Those fresh out of uni cant find jobs here either, We have science graduates working for minimum wage on our help-desk! its nothing new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 University 'marketing' graduates seem to find it hard to find work in that field. We also had lots of them on our help-desk and also doing admin work in our office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 They can make statics look however they want. The employment projections from the .gov site look healthy to me...but I'm no expert. My field is projected a 16% increase in vacancies over the next 5 years..that cant be bad? http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/EmploymentProjections I will quote the dept of employment and the governement - The labour market figures produced for unemployment in Australia are no longer reliable. To say the market is "soft" for jobs would be an understatement. My local libraries have had to initiate limited time on the computers due to the number of job seekers - i know as i have just spent 8 months going there daily job hunting. We are in the early part of the week, but already this week, in Perth, Woodside have just announced 300+ job redundancies. Chevron up to 2000. A fairly normal week in Perth these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon83 Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 I will quote the dept of employment and the governement - The labour market figures produced for unemployment in Australia are no longer reliable. To say the market is "soft" for jobs would be an understatement. My local libraries have had to initiate limited time on the computers due to the number of job seekers - i know as i have just spent 8 months going there daily job hunting. We are in the early part of the week, but already this week, in Perth, Woodside have just announced 300+ job redundancies. Chevron up to 2000. A fairly normal week in Perth these days Not a good situation in other words. The situation here in Norway is the same the oil & gas industry. I have feeling Australia is just further ahead in the same process of cuts and a poor job market. They have slashed more than 10,000 oil & gas related jobs here the last 12 months, and that's a lot for a small country like Norway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfndirt Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I will quote the dept of employment and the governement - The labour market figures produced for unemployment in Australia are no longer reliable. To say the market is "soft" for jobs would be an understatement. My local libraries have had to initiate limited time on the computers due to the number of job seekers - i know as i have just spent 8 months going there daily job hunting. We are in the early part of the week, but already this week, in Perth, Woodside have just announced 300+ job redundancies. Chevron up to 2000. A fairly normal week in Perth these days Geez, begs the million dollar question - has the price of a simple cup of coffee or a pint of beer come back down to normal people levels as a result? Hmmmm, funny how you never hear these stories on the news in the evening hey. Wonder why that is????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 It's close to criminal bringing in close to a quarter of a million migrants a year as things stand. The employment alleged shortage list is a work of fiction which infers corporates are calling the shots. I have long expressed disdain at the overuse of 457's to top it off. I can only wonder at the direction the country is clearly taking and our future down the road. To top it off my partner was advised this week of big cuts within her organisation, with nobody excluded. A push for the acceptance of less working days has been advocated to save at least some jobs. They have three weeks to come up with voluntary resignations before forced ones will be implemented. Numbers not exactly known yet but the atmosphere is I believe very tense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Geez, begs the million dollar question - has the price of a simple cup of coffee or a pint of beer come back down to normal people levels as a result? Hmmmm, funny how you never hear these stories on the news in the evening hey. Wonder why that is????????? The woodside cuts and any big cuts are always on the news. It certainly was last night, 300 going from one of Perth's biggest employers, who not long ago announce record profits again has to make the news. They don't mention the record profits bit on the news in the same report though. Just like Rio, record profits and they lay loads of people off. Been on the radio this morning that Twiggie Forest gave a speech where he said it's a pity the big miners can't get together like adults and agree to cut production to push the price back up. It would be a win, win situation, with more tax revenue for the country and more profits for the companies. Instead of Rio and BHP trying to run the others into the ground so they can have a monopoly. Unfortunately the ACCC didn't like the speech one bit and are looking into whether he broke the law by just suggesting that they could price fix. Don't you love it when an agency like that pretends it's not happening in all industries and pretends everyone is squeaky clean.:laugh: I thought every word Twiggy said was true TBH but BHP and RIO aren't really interested in their workers, Australia, paying taxes and maybe doing the right thing by the country where they make the majority of their profits. They are just interested in their profits, their shareholders, the CEO's and management bonus and are willing to take a hit on profits for a while to get rid of the smaller operators. All those things you see as an employee, that makes you think the company really appreciates you, is bullshit. The price of a cup of coffee and a pint will come down if the number of people able to afford them drops off. If the Breakwater at Hillary's suddenly gets quite or the numerous coffee shops everywhere have a drop in people coming in the price will come down. Not seen any evidence of that yet though. Might be interesting to hear next quarters unemployment figures as WA was still the lowest numbers of unemployed last quarter. It's not all doom and gloom as the resource sector is still a massive employer and it depends a lot on what your skill set is. A lot of the redundancies have been management and contractors and a lot of the people still with jobs are tradies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 It's close to criminal bringing in close to a quarter of a million migrants a year as things stand. The employment alleged shortage list is a work of fiction which infers corporates are calling the shots. I have long expressed disdain at the overuse of 457's to top it off. I can only wonder at the direction the country is clearly taking and our future down the road. To top it off my partner was advised this week of big cuts within her organisation, with nobody excluded. A push for the acceptance of less working days has been advocated to save at least some jobs. They have three weeks to come up with voluntary resignations before forced ones will be implemented. Numbers not exactly known yet but the atmosphere is I believe very tense. Unfortunately the lag built into the predictions of how many people they guess we will need and the actual number, when things turn sour, are so far out of whack that it's laughable. They should be able to adjust the intake every month and it would be great if the job agencies and companies acted responsibly and told the truth about "labour and skills shortages". They are never going to do that though, they want an oversupply to drive down salaries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Unfortunately the lag built into the predictions of how many people they guess we will need and the actual number, when things turn sour, are so far out of whack that it's laughable. They should be able to adjust the intake every month and it would be great if the job agencies and companies acted responsibly and told the truth about "labour and skills shortages". They are never going to do that though, they want an oversupply to drive down salaries. To drive down salaries and to starve of a recession. It maintains the housing Ponzi scheme as well. Just how long it can run is the forty million dollar question. One thing for sure we are going to be poorer. All very sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 There were 800 let go from Rio the week before and while the press were saying it was management and head office, a quick look at any of the mining forums would tell otherwise. It was pretty much across the board with everything from dumpy drivers to warehouse staff to management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Not just mining sector either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 They can make statics look however they want. The employment projections from the .gov site look healthy to me...but I'm no expert. My field is projected a 16% increase in vacancies over the next 5 years..that cant be bad? For as long as I've lived in Australia, what the government says is "in demand" has borne little relationship to the real world - it always seems to be several years behind the times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 For as long as I've lived in Australia, what the government says is "in demand" has borne little relationship to the real world - it always seems to be several years behind the times. I suspect a deliberate policy to bring in competition. It does seem to working with a piece I read claiming 90% of permanent jobs recently going to newly arrived.(including 457's) I wish I could locate the report. I will look. If that is so there are some very difficult times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 (edited) To drive down salaries and to starve of a recession. It maintains the housing Ponzi scheme as well. Just how long it can run is the forty million dollar question. One thing for sure we are going to be poorer. All very sad. I think there is a little too much doom and gloom on this thread. When we came in 92 there was something like 11% unemployment, interest rates were sky high, we didn't have jobs to come to and the mining boom hadn't even started. It didn't stop us coming and doing pretty well. Unemployment rates are hovering around 5% at the moment, interest rates are at record lows, the mining and oil and gas sectors are still massive employers for a state like WA with it's low population. Don't forget a lot of those made redundant would have been from interstate or even 457 holders that have had to go back. I've not noticed a sudden drop in people out and about, spending money and enjoying themselves. The "we are going to be poorer" quote makes it sound inevitable that everyone is going to suffer and do it tough. In any recession (and we aren't even close to one yet) there are people who suffer and the ones who manage to keep their jobs do well. Prices drop, less traffic on the roads, more competition for your dollar. Don't know how the house prices can stay so high either. There are still so many being built that there has to be an over supply soon. Doesn't do any good for developers to have them sat there empty so I reckon there's going to be some decent buys coming. The popular areas will still stay high, as usual. Just to add, neither me or the wife have benefitted from the "mining boom". Neither of us have ever worked in the industry and have managed to get pretty well paid jobs. My son is still working FIFO, changed his job not long back and his company have a fair bit of work coming up. He's a sparky though so they usually find something to do. :cool: Edited March 26, 2015 by Paul1Perth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozen Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 I just don't see where these 16% ICT jobs will pop up. I am terminating contracts for 10 developers next week and have been told that we need to try and cut at least 30% from next years budget by the end of May but IT Developers and Engineers are still on the SOL... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 I think there is a little too much doom and gloom on this thread. When we came in 92 there was something like 11% unemployment, interest rates were sky high, we didn't have jobs to come to and the mining boom hadn't even started. It didn't stop us coming and doing pretty well. Unemployment rates are hovering around 5% at the moment, interest rates are at record lows, the mining and oil and gas sectors are still massive employers for a state like WA with it's low population. Don't forget a lot of those made redundant would have been from interstate or even 457 holders that have had to go back. I've not noticed a sudden drop in people out and about, spending money and enjoying themselves. The "we are going to be poorer" quote makes it sound inevitable that everyone is going to suffer and do it tough. In any recession (and we aren't even close to one yet) there are people who suffer and the ones who manage to keep their jobs do well. Prices drop, less traffic on the roads, more competition for your dollar. Don't know how the house prices can stay so high either. There are still so many being built that there has to be an over supply soon. Doesn't do any good for developers to have them sat there empty so I reckon there's going to be some decent buys coming. The popular areas will still stay high, as usual. Just to add, neither me or the wife have benefitted from the "mining boom". Neither of us have ever worked in the industry and have managed to get pretty well paid jobs. My son is still working FIFO, changed his job not long back and his company have a fair bit of work coming up. He's a sparky though so they usually find something to do. :cool: Actually there is nowhere near enough. We are going to experience some very turbulent times. WA especially so being so reliant on the resource industry and the health of China. I read a lot of economic forecasts are none are in positive territory. This is nothing like 92 when unemployment was high but conditions were different. I have commented to you about this previously and don't chose to repeat myself. The situation needs to be looked at from way beyond a personal history and seen for what it is a very major hit that will impact hard. You questioned my assessment on housing downturns up north. Even though I was on the spot on saw the results of the early down turn very clearly. Port Hedland you may now acknowledge has been hit hard. House prices way down. Rents way down. I left Derby with many dozens of often new builds laying empty, with little chance of being rented out in the prevailing market. Some heavy leveraged people not happy up there as they believed al the hype. Australians are among the most leveraged people in the world. Personal debts are dangerously high. Too much exposure to real estate. How long do you imagine housing and immigration can steer the economy? There appears little other idea out there of what to do. RBA rather clueless. Hard times ahead. Unemployment of course higher than official figures as many don't register and rely on own resources or at best do casual part time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Unemployment of course higher than official figures as many don't register and rely on own resources or at best do casual part time. Unemployment statistics are not based on numbers receiving assistance from Centrelink - that method of counting ceased many years ago - but on a sample survey of the population. I agree it is understated though: as little as 1 hour of work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey counts as "employment". :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Unemployment statistics are not based on numbers receiving assistance from Centrelink - that method of counting ceased many years ago - but on a sample survey of the population. I agree it is understated though: as little as 1 hour of work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey counts as "employment". :rolleyes: One of the big issues (among the many that even the surveyors report) is that they only use land line telephones for the survey. As someone who has just done 8 months of unemployment, i can say that the first thing to be struck off to save cash is the land line along with things like foxtel. Late last year The Australian produced an article based on a range of measurements. It found an unemployment rate of 10.4%. In WA, i can say it feels very similar to the NE of England in the 1980's. When i have had individual employers on applications - very rare - it has reported massive application numbers. My wife recently found a part time job as a cleaner at a local hotel. Minimum wage and no penalty rates or anything – so easter will still be minimum wage. They hired two people. They only put a tiny add in the local free paper. They had over 200 applicants. I was unsuccesful with a application for night shelf filler at my local Woolworths. They had one role available and over 350 applicants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 They should stop those ridiculous 457 visas right now. Give the jobs to locals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryDXB Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 They should stop those ridiculous 457 visas right now. Give the jobs to locals. That is sooooooooooo Nigel Farage....true though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 (edited) Well allegedly they can't fill the positions locally, which is why they sponser from overseas. I'm not convinced though. Edited March 26, 2015 by Que Sera, Sera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon83 Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 I agree it seems strange to import 457s when there's a lot of qualified locals without a job. Seems like companies are abusing the system in order to get cheaper labour. On the other hand, salaries in Australia are very high and for that to be sustainable you need to be more productive than the competition. And for the record, the same goes for Norway where I'm from... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.