I noticed the Mackay Daily Mercury (Investment drought to kill resources-boom building jobs) has picked up an interesting new report from the Australian Workplace and Productivity Agency: Resources Sector Skills Needs 2013. The report contains some interesting projections from Deloitte of employment levels in the resources sector in both construction and operational areas, which I’ve charted below. As widely expected, employment in resources sector construction will fall, but the scale of the projected fall may surprise some. I don’t expect this will result in a surge in unemployment in a few years time, as many of the construction workers in the resources sector are highly skilled and mobile, and they should find other work on projects across Australia.