Engineering vacancies in Queensland have grown 40.7 per cent in the past year, with civil engineering qualifications proving the most wanted, a new report shows.
The Engineers Australia September Engineering Vacancy Report shows a lift in engineering vacancy trends in Queensland from mid-2016, with demand in this field outstripping broader jobs growth.
Engineering vacancies nationwide bottomed out following two peak periods of demand, during 2008 and in 2011.
In January 2015 there were only 2280 engineering vacancies recorded and rates remained low until signs of growth appeared in late 2016, according to the Engineers Australia data.
Engineers Australia drew on the Department of Employment’s September 2017 Vacancies Report to analyse engineering vacancy trends in Australia, and in each of the states and territories.
That report is based on a count of online job advertisements listed on career sites during the month of September and does not include jobs that are advertised on job boards, employer websites, newspapers or through word of mouth. This means that the numbers analysed should be viewed in trend terms only.
Engineering vacancies in Queensland comprised a large portion of civil engineering occupations, followed by mining engineering occupations, industrial and mechanical occupations.
Points of note in the report for Queensland include:
- Civil engineering occupations have recorded the highest number of engineering vacancies in
Queensland, with 400 vacancies recorded in September 2017 compared to 222 at the same time in 2015. Major projects which may have contributed to this improvement include infrastructure construction on the Bruce Highway Upgrade
Program and the Inland Rail Project, as well as other construction projects like the Queens Wharf Precinct Project, preparation works for the Commonwealth Games and a number of solar farm projects. - Vacancies for mining engineers in Queensland fell in the early months of 2016, but have since shown a continuous rise to 147 spots in September 2017.
- Industrial and mechanical engineering have remained fairly constant over the last two years, with some solid growth in the most recent months. In September 2015 there were 75 vacancies recorded, dropping to 57 recorded in June 2016, jumping back up to 118 recorded in
September 2017. - Electrical engineering vacancy numbers have been variable over the last two years. in 2017 vacancies for electrical engineers
have grown from 30 recorded in January to 59 recorded in September. - ICT support and test engineers and engineering manager occupation vacancies have remained steady in Queensland. Over the two-year period ICT support and test engineering vacancies have hovered between 60 and 80 vacancies a month, while engineering managers have hovered between 15 and 25 vacancies a month.
- Telecommunications, electronics and chemical and materials have consistently remained the three occupations with the lowest vacancies, and each of these occupations has seen slight growth in the last three months consistent with all other engineering occupations.
