The bureau’s labour force estimates for May reveal that mining jobs drove the surge - up 13.6% from May 2004, with 111,000 new positions, the Financial Review reported this morning.

The figures may also partially explain why Australia’s peak employment services body, the Recruitment Consulting Service Association (RCSA), found in a recent survey that a shortage of engineers was Western Australian recruiters’ main headache as cross-sector growth depleted the available pool of workers for a booming resources sector.

Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy director Reg Howard-Smith said the state’s sector was expected to add another 20,000 jobs in the next 10 years.

But the demand for skilled tradespeople and professionals with an engineering background is nationwide with Thiess Porcess looking for a thousand workers just in the Northern Territory and Queensland, according to company’s executive general manager David Overall.

The RCSA tracking study found its WA members listed non-building engineers, associate engineers and technicians as being most in demand by a booming resources sector.

The results showed the state’s economy was in danger of running out of steam through a lack of professional and engineering expertise, RCSA (WA) president Gary Carpenter said.

Shortages had been aggravated by gas, minerals and oil sector booms, and some professionals, including engineers, were getting pay rises of 25-40% this year.

The RCSA surveyed its 3800 members across the nation in April and May and found occupations with shortages in Western Australia were, in descending order: non-building professional engineers, non-building engineering associates and technicians, IT and telecommunications professionals and business professionals, with non-building electrical/electronic trades and metal trades ninth and tenth on the list.

Of those who responded to the survey, 69% agreed with the statement shortages were affecting the economy, up from 63% last December.

Shortages were also putting at risk essential services including power, gas and hospitals, 59% of respondents said, up from the 55% who thought so last year.

The RCSA survey also revealed that WA recruiters, more so than interstate colleagues, favoured increasing skilled immigration levels and faster transfer of foreign credentials as solutions to the skills shortages, Carpenter said.