According to the 2016 Hays Resources & Mining Salary Guide, 40% of employers will offer no pay increases and 44% to increase salaries by less than 3%.
It comes after 59% gave no increases last year.
Just 14% will receive a 3-6% increase this year, with 1% to receive an increase of 6-10% and a lucky 1% to receive an increase of 10% or more.
“Overall, it’s clear that employers remain reluctant to offer increases unless absolutely necessary to secure a candidate with skills in short supply,” Hays Resources & Mining regional director Chris Kent said.
“Global commodity prices remain at historically low levels and while Australia’s miners are resilient, many took big steps to create leaner workforces and lower their production costs. In this cost conscious environment, any salary increases remain minimal.”
Kent said in other industries, employees were asking for pay rises.
“Staff turnover has increased in 29% of organisations,” he said.
“While resources and mining is not in the same position as many other industries in this regard, employers should still be ready for employees to seek some form of financial or non-financial reward after the lack of salary increases in recent years.”
A more positive start to 2016 may also boost employees’ hopes for a salary increase.
“A solid start to 2016 created cautious optimism across the sector with gold miners doing particularly well,” Kent said.
“We are also seeing the emergence of new markets such as lithium, while uranium is touted as a major opportunity for Australian miners. In addition, any increase in demand for coal should result in jobs given the current lean workforce.
“Meanwhile the strong start to 2016 for several key commodities has seen several capital improvement projects dusted off. This has created some project delivery vacancies but salaries in this area are still in decline.”
Wages have come down in Western Australia in recent years, and geologists, field and lab technicians are in demand, though employers are no longer paying a premium.
“Blue-collar candidates are being asked to maintain their own tickets and qualifications and in many cases take steps to be dual trade qualified or multi-skilled in order to future proof their roles,” Kent said.
