Blame the Boom

Who are they going to blame?

Any excuse is going to do.

With the last mining boom blame was laid for the shortage of drivers on the mining sector sucking them out of our industry because of the high incomes available.   

Well, um, yeah, that could happen.   I mean you have the choice of $40.00 per hour and safety conscious work conditions and benefits as opposed to a $15.00 per hour and a ‘who cares about them’ attitude and yes drivers will seek better employment.    We will seek better employment anywhere we can (console operators, waiters, dish washers, security, road workers etc).    The only thing keeping me in the industry is the ability to work longer hours to make enough to survive.    Many other low skill jobs also only provide short hours.

Unfortunately many of us have commitments which mean we can’t flit off to the mines for two weeks at a time.   If this wasn’t the case for much of the population everyone would be up at the mines earning a fortune.    There are about 1.6 million people in Perth of which about 90 000 work in the mines or associated industries.