How is Australia’s mining industry faring?

Much has been discussed about the slowing down of the mining industry, from reduced operations for specific resource sectors to an overall trend of more job losses than gains. The below chart, compiled by Australian Mining, shows the comparison of mining jobs that were gained vs those that were lost. Needless to say, the number of losses have significantly outweighed the gains.

Not for one month in the past year has the mining industry gained 2,000 new jobs. However, there have been four months where there were in excess of 2,000 jobs lost, and two of these saw losses exceed 3,000.

Overall, mining jobs have been on the decline over the past year.

In terms of specific resource sectors, the below chart gives you a strong idea of how each sector has fared over the past 12 months. Some have experienced losses far more substantial than others.

While no particular sector has really fared that well over the past 12 months, resources such as gold and copper, coal, and iron ore are three that have certainly been hit hardest.

Finally, this last chart shows mining employment sentiment over the past 47 months. As you can clearly see, it falls into the negative spectrum from July 2012 and struggles to ever really recover. These are all clear red flags showing how much the industry has slowed down in recent months .