WA mining jobs at record levels but gender pay gap stays 'worst in Australia'

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WA mining jobs at record levels but gender pay gap stays 'worst in Australia'

By Nathan Hondros and Hamish Hastie

West Australians are finding more jobs than ever in the mining industry, but the state's gender pay gap is the "worst in the Australia", according to the latest figures released by the state government.

The average number of men and women employed in the mining sector jumped by about 12,000 people for the last financial year on the back of a $30 billion increase in mineral and petroleum sales compared to the previous year.

More Western Australians have found work in the mining sector than ever before, according to state government statistics.

More Western Australians have found work in the mining sector than ever before, according to state government statistics.Credit: Ryan Stuart

But despite an overall increase in the number of jobs on offer throughout the state, WA's gender pay gap sits at 21.8 per cent, according to the state government's 2019 Women’s Report Card released by Women's Interests Minister Simone McGurk on Monday morning.

Gender pay gap is calculated by subtracting female average earnings from male average earnings and dividing the result by male average earnings.

South Australia has the lowest gender pay gap, which sits at 9.2 per cent.

The national gender pay gap is 14 per cent.

"The 2019 Women’s Report Card offers a sobering insight into the scale of the challenges faced by women – they are still at considerable risk of violence and abuse, and WA’s gender pay gap is consistently high," Ms McGurk said.

"We acknowledge that there is still work to do to achieve gender equality.

"However, there have been improvements in several areas since the last update in 2015."

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Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said WA's iron ore sales reached a record $78.2 billion in 2018-19 – up 26 per cent on the previous year – and gold sales reached an all-time high of almost $12 billion with the Australian dollar gold price at record levels.

Figures show the state's mineral and petroleum industries reported sales of $145 billion, up from $115 billion the year before because of "improved iron ore prices and increasing LNG volumes".

Mr Johnston said the record figures across the mining sector reflected the state government’s commitment to supporting industry investment in WA.

"State government initiatives such as the Exploration Incentive Scheme and Streamline WA, which is improving regulatory practice, is helping the resources industry succeed," he said.

"Interest and investment in the resources sector remains strong, WA projects in the pipeline had an estimated value of $108 billion in September, 2019."

Other mining statistics released by the government this morning included a 39 per cent jump in mineral sands sales (to $529 million), a four per cent drop in coal sales (to $319 million) and a two per cent drop in spodumene (lithium ore) sales (to $1.55 billion).

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A recent report by the Australian Mines and Metals Association predicted by 2024, 10,677 new mining jobs will be created in WA, driven by 30 new projects.

This bump in jobs would bring the overall direct mining workforce to about 116,000, the largest since the peak of the mining boom in 2012 when it hit 119,800.

Five projects are scheduled for completion in 2019, which the association forecasts will create 1338 jobs by the end of next year.

The government's Women's Report Card found 13.7 per cent of board chair roles in the private sector are held by women and women retire with about half as much superannuation as men.

According to the report card, 56 per cent of university graduates are women, but men’s undergraduate median starting salaries were greater than women's in 16 out of 20 fields.

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