ANZSCO2333-11New South Wales

Electrical EngineerApril 2017

Labour Economics Office New South Wales

Department of Employment

Current labour market ratingRecruitment difficulty for experience in the Mining industry and for electrical engineers with Level 3 ASP accreditation

Previous labour market rating (April 2016)No shortage

Comments

Most employers are generally able to fill vacancies for electrical engineers across NSW. Some employers, however, experience difficulties in recruiting electrical engineers with Mining industry experience and those with APS/3 accreditation. These roles are either unfilled or the employer is required to modify their requirements in order to fill the vacancy.

Survey results

  • The Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA) was conducted for the occupation of electrical engineer in April quarter 2017.
  • Around 68 per cent of surveyed vacancies were filled (compared with 83 per cent in 2016).
  • The proportion of vacancies filled this year is below the average filled from 2012 to 2016 (74percent).
  • For electrical engineers in NSW there has been either a shortage or a recruitment difficulty for eight out of the past 10 years.
  • There was an average of 28.6 applicants per vacancy in 2017, of whom10.9 were qualified electrical engineers (compared with 48.3 and 39.4, respectively, in 2016).
  • For the purposes of this research a qualified applicant is one with a four year degree or higher qualification in engineering with a relevant specialisation.
  • There were low numbers of suitable applicants, with employers generally considering less than one applicant per vacancy to be suitable (0.9 compared with 1.2 in 2016).
  • The average number of suitable applicants per vacancy this year was lower than the average for the previous five years (1.5).
  • Despite regional vacancies generally attracting more qualified applicants per vacancy than their metropolitan counterparts (15.0 compared with 9.5), Sydney-based employers filled a greater proportion of their vacancies than those in regional NSW (71 per cent compared with 60percent).
  • The Department surveyed vacancies across engineering consulting firms, government positions, electrical and mining companies and specialist recruitment agents.
  • The level of experience sought varied between employers, with some advertising for graduate positions while others, for example, required a minimum of 10 years experience.
  • Employers also had a preference for applicants who had experience in the sector or specialisation in which the vacancy was advertised. These employers generally did not consider experience to be transferable across specialisations.
  • Additionally, employers had a preference for Australian-based, and in some cases NSW-based, engineers as they are familiar with national and NSW electrical legislation.
  • A number of employers were specifically recruiting electrical engineers with experience working in the Mining industry. These roles were either unable to be filled or employers were forced to compromise and hire an engineer with limited experience in this field.
  • Some employers required electrical engineers to be Level 3 Accredited Service Providers (ASP/3).Thisaccreditation allows engineers to design electricity reticulation assets.These roles generally went unfilled although some employers compromised and hired a recent graduate or advertised for several months until a suitable applicant with this accreditation applied.
  • Those employers who did not fill their vacancy indicated they were planning to readvertise. Several of these employers stated that they would use more targeted advertisements (for example, advertising on LinkedIn) rather than focusing on online job boards.
  • This occupation has been rated as having a recruitment difficulty as employers seeking to recruit electrical engineers with experience in the Mining industry and those looking to recruit engineers with an APS/3accreditation were unable to fill their vacancies or were required to modify their requirements in order to find a suitable applicant.

Unsuitable applicants

  • Due to the specific requirements of employers, around 96 per cent of all qualified electrical engineers were considered to be unsuitable.
  • These applicants either lacked the minimum level of experience required (this included a number of recent graduates) or did not have experience in the sector that was being advertised. Several employers commented that they were unwilling to hire applicants who weren’t a perfect fit for their business.
  • For senior roles, if applicants did not have mentoring or leadership experience they were considered to be unsuitable.

Demand and supply trends

  • Demand for electrical engineers over the past year has been adversely affected by subdued activity in the electricity, manufacturing, mining and (outside Sydney)engineering construction industries but boosted by high levels of residential building and State Government infrastructure expenditure.
  • Demand in the manufacturing industry has been constrained by falling orders from mining-related industries.
  • Preliminary data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics indicate that the inflation adjusted value of residential building work done grew by 20.8 per cent over the year to 2016 (following an increase of 14.1 per cent over the previous year). [1]
  • Non-residential work increased by 5.0 per cent over the same period (following growth of 2.7percent over the previous year).[2]
  • Coal mining output was relatively stable over the year ended March 2017 (an increase of 1.4percent).[3] Despite this, the average number of people employed in NSW coal mines over the year to March 2017 fell by three per cent compared with the year to March 2016.[4]
  • It is estimated that in 2015 around 220 students from NSW universities completed bachelor degree courses in which they specialised in electrical engineering. This was around 37 per cent higher than the annual average for the previous five years.[5]
  • The number of primary applicant 457 temporary skilled migration visas granted for electrical engineers averaged around 26 per annum over the three years ended 2016-17.[6] Note that the visas are only for four years and there is no automatic conversion to permanent residency.

Labour Economics Office New South Wales

Department of Employment

[1]ABS, Construction Work Done, Preliminary, December 2016, Table 8, chain volume measures, original data. These figures are adjusted for inflation.

[2]ABS, Construction Work Done, Preliminary, December 2016, Table 4, chain volume measures, original data.

[3]Coal Services Statistics, NSW raw coal production by coalfield, by mining method, March 2017.

[4] Coal Services Statistics, Production employment at NSW coal mines, March 2017.

[5]Department of Education and Training, Higher Education Student Data Collection, 2015, customised tables.

[6] Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Subclass 457 visas granted pivot table, accessed 21 July 2017.