Kathryn Diss reports that more than 35 per cent of geoscientists in Australia are unemployed or underemployed as low commodity prices push exploration spending to a near decade low. The findings of the latest quarterly survey by the Australian Institute of Geoscientists reveal employment levels in the profession to be at their lowest level since mid-2009. It is continuing to force senior geologists to take massive pay-cuts or apply for graduate level jobs, while hundreds of graduates are without work.
The unemployment rate among the survey 626 respondents was 15.2 per cent while the number of those underemployed rose to 19.9 per cent. The combined unemployment and underemployment rate jumped from 32.4 per cent in the December quarter, 2014, to 35.1 per cent, the highest level recorded since the survey began at the end of the global financial crisis in June 2009. Of the self-employed geoscientists in the survey, more than 36 per cent were unable to secure more than 10 per cent of their desired workload.
This downturn will also be reflected in the U.S., mostly in the oil and gas industry. The key factor will be the numbers of geoscientists out of work in the environmental industry. Expect the results on U.S. employment in the geoscience industry to be out soon.
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