Queensland’s resources jobs market is outpacing job vacancies in the rest of the state’s economy at a rate of 15 to one, according to analysis from the Queensland Resources Council.

The findings came in the latest QRC State of the Sector report. (Full report HERE)

But the report also highlights industry executives’ concerns regarding the impact of poor or uncertain regulation on the sector.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the figures in the latest State of the Sector report reinforced the importance of the resources industry, especially when the state’s agriculture sector was doing it tough.

According to the Queensland Major Projects Pipeline Report, around $2 billion of resource projects are under construction with a further $19 billion in the pipeline to 2022-23.

“This growing project pipeline has propelled the sector’s labour economic demand,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Queensland job advertisements for resource-related jobs have risen at around fifteen times that of all jobs in the Queensland economy. 

“In the three years to April 2019, the number of job advertisements for mining- related occupations has increased by 94 per cent, whereas the number of job advertisements across all industries increased by just 6 per cent.”

This highlighted the importance of the Government providing a stable and transparent investment framework, including no sudden royalty hikes, he said.

“According to the QRC’s latest CEO Sentiment Survey, 53 per cent of QRC member CEOs expect to increase the total workforce at their Queensland operations over the next 12 months—with 10 per cent planning a substantial increase. Not a single CEO said they planned to reduce their workforce in the coming 12 months.

“But we can’t take these job opportunities for granted.

“Industry, government and regional communities must all row in the same direction to deliver on those opportunities.”