The job prospects for Australian engineers look to be improving, according to the latest report on engineering vacancies.

Analysing movements in engineering vacancies can provide a broad indication of the direction of the engineering labour market. When the demand for labour is strong, the levels of vacancies will also generally rise.

The engineering jobs market deteriorated after 2013, and did not show signs of recovery until late 2016. The report finds that, over the first nine months of 2017, engineering vacancies have grown slowly, but steadily.

New South Wales leads the way in terms of overall numbers with more than 1300 vacancies as of September. However, this was a slight contraction since June (1.4 per cent).

Virtually all other states grew strongly. Victoria grew 11 per cent in the quarter to record 900 vacancies. Queensland grew 25 per cent to reach 725 vacancies. Western Australia grew 31 per cent to reach 587 and South Australia had 162 vacancies (up 19 per cent).

Of the smaller states, Tasmania (39 per cent) and the Northern Territory (29 per cent) both recorded increases while the Australian Capital Territory recorded the biggest fall (13.5 per cent).

Generally speaking, the engineering vacancies are primarily in the civil engineering field. This is not surprising given the number of large infrastructure projects underway such as the metro, freight rail and WestConnex projects in Sydney; the crossing removals and metro projects in Melbourne; and the Bruce Highway upgrade, inland rail and Commonwealth Games construction projects in Queensland.

In Western Australia, mining engineering vacancies were leading the way and mining performed strongly in Queensland as well. There was good growth in industrial and mechanical engineering vacancies in Victoria and Western Australia while electrical engineering vacancies grew in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

[Level crossing removal work on Murrumbeena Road in Melbourne. Photo: Victorian Government]