Andrew Waltho reports in an article beginning on page 15 that employment prospects for Australian professional geoscientists declined further in the last quarter of 2015 according to the results of the latest, quarterly survey by the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG). At 31 December 2015, the unemployment rate among Australian geoscientists was 18.7% and the underemployment rate was 23.4%. The combined unemployment and under-employment rate of 42.1% was the highest recorded since the AIG surveys commenced in mid-2009.
Less than 50% of self-employed geoscientists were able to secure more than one quarter of their desired workload, pointing to a real unemployment rate of 31.1%, also the highest rate recorded by the AIG surveys to date and more than 10% higher than at the peak of the global financial crisis of 2009. Geoscientist employment declined in every state, except NSW where it remained static, and Victoria where unemployment actually fell but under-employment increased. The greatest increase in unemployment was observed in Queensland, where unemployment and underemployment rates were more than 15% higher than those observed in September 2015, followed by South Australia.
Well over 40% of unemployed and underemployed geoscientists have been out of work, or unable to secure their desired level of work for more than 12 months, pointing to a growing pool of long-term unemployed in Australian geoscience. Almost 70% were not confident of regaining employment within the next 12 months and more than one in 20 indicated that they were turning their backs on their chosen profession due to the dire situation that has surrounded geoscientist employment in Australia for more than two and a half years.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
