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Cost pressures put brakes on mining salaries

THE average salary increase in the mining and resources sector is forecast to be less than 3% in ...

Andrew Duffy

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The new survey found 62% of resources and mining employers plan salary increases of less than 3% when they next review, while 52% gave increases less than 3% in their last review.

But, while cost pressures are putting the brakes on employee earnings there are still some examples of generous pay hikes.

Hays said just 2% of employers increased salaries by more than 6% in their last review, while none intended to do the same in the next period.

A significant 18% of companies do not plan salary increases at all, while 23% did not award hikes in their last review.

"Employers are attempting to do more with less," Hays Resources and Mining regional director Chris Kent said.

"They are still under pressure to manage costs and the ceiling for salary increases has lowered."

The latest results highlight worsening conditions compared to the same time last year.

Midway through 2013, 41% of resources and mining companies planned to increase salaries by 3% or less, while 10% planned no rise.

On the upper end of the scale, 1% of respondents planned increases of more than 10%, while 5% planned hikes between 6-10% and 43% planned rises of 3-6%.

Despite the continued slowdown this year Kent said recruitment in some parts of the sector was still strong, particularly in iron ore.

He said iron ore miners in Western Australia were competing with the gold sector for some experienced skillsets, and there had been a rise in demand for temporary white collar candidates in north Queensland's recovering metalliferous market.

"In contrast, fly-in fly-out roles will decrease in South Australia as part of productivity drives by major miners. This will result in more opportunities for residential and drive-in drive-out employees," he said.

"In New South Wales, hiring activity is primarily focused on the coal space with fixed and mobile plant operators and supervisors sought."

Along with rivalry within the sector for select positions, Kent said miners were also facing competition from the oil and gas sector, which was particularly interested in key operations and maintenance experts.

"In terms of salaries, we are seeing a broadly stable outlook as the very best talent is still commanding a premium," he said.

"However, reductions may occur for the blue collar workforce and middle management candidates as a result of the drive to reduce FIFO roles in all regions."

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