Western Australia’s labour force will increase 30 per cent to 1.75 million by 2025, with the highest annual employment growth projected in agriculture, health care, education and accommodation/food services, according to a report released today by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre.
Workforce and skills: Western Australian labour markets in transition noted that the projected labour force growth comes on top of an increase of almost 33 per cent during the past decade, to 1.4 million.
This movement has been largely the result of a 29 per cent increase in the state’s working age population and a higher participation rate.
The report also found that the mining sector ranks as the sixth largest employer in the state, at 7.5 per cent of the workforce, with retail, construction and health care/social assistance the leaders in double digits.
BCEC director Alan Duncan said that the labour market was changing.
“Employment growth in the mining sector has accelerated significantly since the beginning of the GFC, more than doubling in the last five years alone from 54,000 to 120,000 workers,” Professor Duncan said.
“However, the WA labour market is in transition.
“The proportion of the workforce employed in mining has decreased over the last two years by around 2 percentage points from its peak in 2012, and now sits at 7.5 per cent in May 2014.”
However mining continued to play an important role in the economy, with output valued at more than $70 billion in WA in the last financial year, he said.
“This represents 58 per cent of the total gross value of Australia’s mining industry,” Professor Duncan said.
There has also been a huge growth in the construction industry during the past decade.
“The construction workforce in WA has increased 75 per cent from around 80,000 in 2001 to around 140,000 in May this year, and construction remains one of the stronger industries in the state,” Professor Duncan said.
Close to a million Western Australians aged from 15-64 held a non-school qualification in 2013, with a certificate three/four level attainment being most popular, but 30 per cent of 25-34 year olds hold a bachelor degree or higher, up from 20 per cent in 2003.
Meanwhile, overseas and interstate migration had slowed, generally tracking alongside iron ore prices, with interstate flows halving from 2012 to 2013.
