Up & Coming Geoscientists - a sample of our AIG Honours Bursary Recipients

Latest Employment Survey
Unemployed and under-employed
geoscientists were asked how they were
coping with their current situation.
Responses in the “Other” category included:
• establishing new businesses to take
advantage of an eventual upturn in
Australia’s resource industries;
• becoming a stay at home parent while
their spouse worked;
• living on superannuation or other
savings;
• reluctantly accepting early retirement;
• working for free to maintain
qualifications and broaden their
experience;
• leaving Australia to pursue opportunities
overseas; and,
• drafting case studies and papers for
publication based on their experience.
The employment crisis has also had an
impact on the fields in which Australian
geoscientists are employed, with mineral
exploration feeling the greatest impact.
More than 87% of Australia’s geoscientists
currently in employment work as full-time
employees. Survey respondents were asked
whether their conditions of employment, in
terms of salary, associated benefits, hours
of work etc., had improved, remained the
same or deteriorated since September 2014.
Some 16% of respondents considered their
employment conditions to have improved,
59% thought their conditions had remained
the same, while the remainder reported that
their conditions had deteriorated. These
results are considered encouraging from the
point of view that the majority of employers
are not seeking to use the difficult conditions
facing Australia’s resource industries to
reduce working conditions for their staff.
The survey received just over 800
responses, considered to be an excellent
result that both provides a statistically robust
sample of employment conditions and
highlights the commitment of geoscientists to
supporting their peers and profession.
How Australia’s geoscientists are coping with unemployment and under-employment
AIG NEWS Issue 123 · February 2016 17