BHP Billiton said that the resources industry in Australia will create many jobs over the next five years. They are expecting a demand for 170,000 workers to hit the industry nationwide providing ample job opportunities to the local communities.
The multinational mining company has forecast that close to 90,000 jobs will be open in the resources industry by 2016. Before that they have forecast 80,000 temporary construction worker jobs in 2014. They are concerned about the shortage of skills as they go about their expansion plans. The company’s job generation prediction is close to 60% more than the government’s forecast.
The federal government also had forecast an increase in 61,500 mining jobs by 2015 and another 45,000 would be open to the construction workforce, about a year ago. The government had said that the jobs forecast were for the regions of Western Australia and Queensland where the mines are investing in coal, iron ore and LPG resources.
Martin Ferguson the federal Resources Minister said that the difference between their own forecast and BHP Billiton’s forecast could be explained by the new investments in the resources sector over the past year. He said that their fundamentals as a nation economically are sound, as reflected in the BHP projections on labour force demand.