Mining industry pay entices ‘mobile’ workers as job change rate hits decade high

Jasmine Clark is in her familiar routine — preparing another daily coffee order while familiar faces join a lunchtime queue.

Her job is almost muscle memory in the regional WA town of Albany — the city on WA’s south coast where she grew up.

But she has recently decided to swap her usual lifestyle for a challenge that could not be further from her current reality — fly-in, fly-out utility care work in the state’s mining industry.

The 18-year-old knew she wanted a new challenge when the people around her started changing.

“Especially now that everyone’s getting older, everyone’s leaving,” Ms Clark said.

“I just had a little wake up call and I thought ‘no, time for a change as well’.”

But she said there was another big drawcard.

“It’s really good pay for what you do.”

The lure of mining

WA’s huge resources sector has always had the ability to lure prospective employees with bigger pay packets — and there’s plenty of jobs to go around.

Vacancies in mining jumped 62 percent in August this year compared to February 2020, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Collar Group WA director Rachel Jones said while there was always demand for mining jobs, the past two years had changed the game.

“If you think about the way we’ve just come out of COVID and all the borders were closed, it’s really highlighted the impact on the businesses with less qualified people and experienced people, particularly in Western Australia,” Ms Jones said.

She said the ongoing worker shortage meant mining companies were eager to recruit.

ABS figures show 9.5 percent of people changed jobs in the 12 months leading into February this year — the highest annual job mobility rate since 2012.

Moving around

University of Western Australia economics professor Alison Preston said people moving to the mining sector were likely to be those with “mobile” jobs.

“Because it [mining] does have the capacity to pay, that is going to suck out labor from groups that are mobile,” Professor Preston said.

“If I take childcare workers — they’re not necessarily able to demand higher wages where they are but what they can do is move to another employer who perhaps can offer better terms and conditions.”

A new adventure

Ms Jones said people such as Ms Clark were in the sights of mining companies as they continued their recruitment drive.

“They’re committed, they’re loyal… companies are really focused on making sure they’ve got the right programs in place, the right training in there, the right buddying scenario as well,” she said.

Those elements could help Ms Clark settle in to the new FIFO lifestyle.

“To be honest I’m so nervous… I’ve never done something like this before,” she said.

“I’ve never been away from home for more than a week, but I’m getting there.

“It’s very nerve wracking.”