Big three sectors well ahead of the pack, accounting for nearly 400,000 workers

Western Australia is riding high on the mining and resources boom but it’s the construction, retail and health sectors that are pulling the most workers.

These three largest industries are driving employment in the state, accounting for nearly a third of the workforce, according to data from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

Over the year to June 2011, the WA labour market grew by 20,000 people to a total workforce of 1.24 million.

As at May 2011, there were 138,400 people working in the construction industry, 136,600 in the retail trade industry and 121,400 in the health sector.

Eleven industries have experienced an increase in employment over the year to May, with the largest number of new jobs created in retail (17,900) and construction (14,500).

WA’s heath-care sector expanded by 7,800 employees, the mining sector jumped 7,300 and the manufacturing sector increased by 4,900. Employment fell in eight industries, with transport, postal and warehousing experiencing the largest fall,  of 18,000 employees.

The number of people employed in financial and insurances services also declined by 8,800 people. 

This year’s WA Business News ‘Book of Lists’ data reflects these trends, with the Department of Health and retail giants Wesfarmers and Woolworths featuring in the top 10.

However, according to the list, the Department of Education sits in the number one spot as the biggest employer in WA with more than 33,647 staff.

The department is responsible for the planning and long-term development of the public school system and manages more than 800 public schools across WA.

It is followed closely by the Department of Health, which employs more than 32,000 staff. 

The department is responsible for the management of public hospitals and community health services and is investing more than $5 billion in health-care building projects over the next five years. 

Some of the projects being overseen by the department include the QEII Medical Centre redevelopment and the $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital at Murdoch.

Third on the list is the nation’s largest private employer, Wesfarmers, which employs more than 24,000 staff in WA. 

The company’s business operations cover supermarkets, department stores, home improvement, office supplies and coal mining.

Wesfarmers has more than 15,000 workers in its WA Coles, Bunnings and Officeworks stores alone. 

Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder said attracting and retaining good staff was of paramount importance to the company.

“I think attracting, retaining and developing people is the number one issue facing Wesfarmers over the next 10 years. I said that pre-global financial crisis and I actually continue to believe it is the key issue,” Mr Goyder told a recent Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA seminar. 

The company invested more than 2.2 million hours in training and development last year.

Mr Goyder said he was convinced that the only competitive advantage Wesfarmers had over other players was its people. 

“There is nothing we do that another business can’t do … whether it is insurance, retail, mining coal, unless you can create intellectual property and patent it for 20 years then there is nothing a competitor can’t come in and try to do better than you,” he said. 

“The only way I think you can do better than your competitor is by having better people who are innovative … you can create that through reputation, through people, through training and development and through the retention of people.”

Mr Goyder said it was vital to ensure people would want to come and work for the company. 

“We have always had a pretty simple rule at Wesfarmers and that is, if you find someone good, find a role for them, even if it is a holding role for a while until the right position comes up,” he said.

“Recruitment also means looking beyond the usual paradigms on gender, ethnic background, indigenous employment and age … we should be challenging our own internal human resource people and recruitment agencies to look harder for people who will bring more diversity to your business.”

Wesfarmers’ competitor, Woolworths, was fourth on the list, employing nearly 15,000 people around the state.

Iron ore giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were in equal fifth place, employing about 12,000 people each. 

BHP Billiton’s WA business consists of its iron ore operations in the Pilbara, its Nickel West operations at Mt Keith, Leinster, Kalgoorlie and Kwinana, and its Worsley Alumina subsidiary.

Rio Tinto employs 11,400 people at its iron ore operations in the Pilbara, 350 at its Argyle Diamond mine in the Kimberly and 200 at its Dampier Salt operations. 

Not on the list this year, but growing its WA presence rapidly, is Irish engineering and construction firm Kentz, which employs nearly 1000 staff who work on various oil and gas projects in WA.

The company’s projects include a $2.3 billion joint venture with CB&I for mechanical, electrical and instrumentation work on Barrow Island and a $170 million electrical and instrumentation construction contract on Pluto LNG. 

 This week, the company launched its apprenticeship-training program, which will initially employ 16 apprentices in the last quarter of 2011 and another group to start in the first quarter of 2012.  

As part of the program, apprentices will be provided with on-the-job training and a tailored development plan, which will allow them to achieve a Certificate III in Electro technology Electrician. 

Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) state secretary Les McLaughlin congratulated Kentz on the program, saying it was a positive way forward in counteracting the skills shortages. 

“I think this sort of program is long overdue … it’s not against immigration or visa workers but it’s about regognising the need to grow your own workforce as well,” Mr McLaughlin said. 

“In Western Australia we have very high levels of youth unemployment and people who have missed out on apprenticeships over the years.

“The industry has known for well over the past two decades that we are coming up to huge demands in the oil and gas industry and huge demands in the resource sector and they have adopted year after year that policy of ‘when it gets here, we will deal with it’.”

Mr McLaughlin said companies should be doing more to provide employment opportunities to young people. 

“If other companies don’t get on board they are denying workers in Western Australia the opportunity to benefit from this boom period,” he said.

“The answer to the issue is not just bringing in hundreds of short-term, temporary workers. There is a place for everything within that structure but there has to be a full-on commitment to young workers to give them a future.”