Geoscientist employment in Australia remained relatively stable during the third quarter of 2020, according to new research from the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG).
The latest Australian Geoscientist Employment Survey found that nationally, unemployment increased to 10.6 per cent from 8.6 per cent in the June quarter, while under-employment fell significantly to 12.7 per cent from 17.4 per cent for the period.
Underemployment, in this survey series, is defined as geoscientists being unable to secure more than 25 per cent of their desired workload.
Full-time geoscientist employment fell from 69 per cent in the June quarter to 61 per cent in the September quarter.
The proportions of geoscientists in part-time and casual employment were little changed from the June quarter survey.
The proportion of self-employed geoscientists increased from 22 per cent in June to 28 per cent in the October quarter, possibly reflecting improved employment prospects for self-employed geoscientists.
AIG President, Andrew Waltho, expressed mixed feelings regarding the results.
“The increase in unemployment is concerning, despite being recorded at a time of economic difficulties through the Australian economy being in recession due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic,” Mr Waltho said.
“The trend in survey results over the past year now points to the flattening of what was a decreasing trend in unemployment,” he detailed.
“What appear to be improved conditions for self-employed geoscientists, however, are welcome.”
Mr Waltho noted that the survey results point to continued activity in the exploration and mining sectors, which employ three-quarters of Australia’s geoscientists, and companies making an effort to continue their operations and maintain continuity under difficult business conditions.
Geoscientist unemployment increased across Australia, except in New South Wales and ACT where the rate fell by 5 per cent, from 10.5 per cent in the June quarter to 5 per cent in September.
The increase in unemployment recorded in Western Australia was small at only 0.2 per cent – within the margin of error for the survey.
The largest decreases in under-employment were recorded in Western Australia (6.7 per cent) and New South Wales / ACT (4.4 per cent).
Long term unemployment continued to remain stubbornly high, with almost 34 per cent of unemployed geoscientists reporting having been out of work for more than 12 months, including 20 per cent who have been out of work for more than two years.
Some 36 per cent of unemployed geoscientists were not confident of returning to work within the next 12 months, a fall of 4 per cent from the previous survey and the first decrease in this rate evident for more than 12 months.
Amongst geoscientists currently in employment, 58 per cent of survey respondents reported that their employment conditions had not changed over the past 12 months while 32 per cent said that their employment conditions had improved.
Only 10 per cent reported that their employment conditions had declined.
More than 39 per cent of survey respondents had more than 30 years’ experience since graduation.
This figure is of concern as it points to Australia’s geoscience skills requirements being met by an ageing workforce.
Early career geoscientists, with five or less years of experience since graduation, represented just 3 per cent of survey respondents. Women represented only 16 per cent of survey respondents.
Mr Waltho said the prospect of an ageing workforce, suggested by the growing proportion of geoscientists with more than 30 years’ experience, is a major concern.
“Lack of gender diversity is also an issue our profession needs to address on several fronts,” he said.
“Action is needed to promote the varied and interesting careers on offer in geoscience that, increasingly, rely on the use of advanced technologies to collect and analyse data and contribute to not just mineral exploration and mining, but encompass a range of fields in which a solid understanding of Earth as a complex, vibrant, continuously evolving system is needed to develop and test models of how Earth formed and assess the impacts of human activities in a meaningful manner, to keep asking questions, test evidence and deliver robust and reliable outcomes,” Mr Waltho shared.
“Geoscience is about the collecting and testing of observations, adhering to scientific principles to make a difference in a wide range of fields,” he added.
The next survey will be conducted at the end of September.