Renewable energy debate turning as hot as the CQ job market.
Snapshot
- Debate increasing about the case for renewable energy transition
- The market for skilled candidates remains intense across CQ
- Federal Election looming with Central Queensland a key region
Transition to renewable energy
Over the course of April, two significant conferences are taking place, featuring supply-chain and work opportunities within Central Queensland Renewable Energy projects. These projects include Hydrogen, Wind, Solar, Battery and Hydro-Electricity.
ABC’s Q&A TV show was also hosted live from Gladstone last week and included significant debate about the viability of a transition to more renewable energy sources. Whilst political viewpoints of course differ on the extent to which the transition should occur, Gladstone and the Central Queensland region as a whole, is positioning itself well to take advantage of opportunities.
The matter of acquiring and building a skilled workforce to meet these opportunities continues to be a major concern and will require significant forward planning, investment and innovation.
Lower active candidate levels and rapidly increasing high employer demand
After a swirl of activity in the last couple of months, candidate registrations on the Jobs In CQ site have reduced by 16%, with application volumes continuing to be down at the moment, partly due to school holidays and a series of public holidays throughout April.
However, the number of employers registering to advertise vacancies is up over 35% in the last month, strongly confirming that the demand for skills versus the amount of available labour is compounding.
The most searched-for job opportunities from job seekers in the last month were: Sales, Administration, Boilermaker, Cleaning and Part-Time roles also featured high on the priority list this month. The jobs which received the highest number of views for February were in the Civil, Construction, Media/Entertainment and Hospitality sectors.
The Economic Outlook
There is a great deal of commentary at the moment about the global economy and the impact it will have for us locally. According to Queensland Treasury, recently presenting at the CHDC Economic Futures Forum, Global Economic Conditions have now moderated. However the Russian conflict with Ukraine is resulting in oil prices and global inflation. Of course we have already experienced this at the fuel pump and we are now noticing it across other areas of household and business spending.
This is because Russia and Ukraine account for:
- 12% of global oil production
- 16% of global natural gas production
- 25% of global wheat production
- Ukraine produces 13% of global corn
These factors are all having a significant impact on meeting global demand and an imbalance between demand and supply is constraining production and boosting inflation
Here at home, we are seeing a resulting increase in demand for our natural resources and primary industries and the general outlook for industries in Central Queensland is positive in the coming years. However labour markets are expected to continue to tighten, wages to rise and inflation to stay firm.
Will Central Queensland play a pivotal role in the Federal Election?
Regional Queensland has been a stronghold for the LNP with Labour only holding 6 of the 30 seats in Queensland, none of them outside of the South-East corner. Labour will need to win 7 seats from the Coalition, to form a majority government.
Climate change and net zero are having real life impacts. Mining and Agriculture are clearly key industries with 1 in every 8 workers in CQ are employed in these industries, so jobs and climate change are key, but also other issues such as providing balance and opportunity for children, the future of the region, healthcare provision and aged care.
Whatever the outcome it promises to be highly-contested as we approach election day on 21st May.
The latest unemployment figures
The State unemployment rate for Queensland is now down to 4% (exactly the same as the National Unemployment figure). However the unemployment rate for our Central Queensland region is higher at 5.4%. Whilst youth unemployment is still high in CQ (7.5%), compared to the general unemployment rate, it is comparatively lower than the Queensland State Youth Unemployment figure of 10.2%.
For more information and insights about the local CQ job market and opportunities Register.