TAFE WA Pilbara Region - CEMI

CEMI REPORT 0604

TAFE WA Pilbara Region Identifying Industry Clusters in the Pilbara Region

Centre for Entrepreneurial Management and Innovation

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Copyright © CEMI 2006 Project Team and Authors: Tim Mazzarol Natasha van Heemst Centre for Entrepreneurial Management and Innovation Graduate School of Management University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 Tel: 618 6488-7916 [email protected]

CEMI Report / TAFE WA Pilbara Region: Identifying Industry Clusters


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Contents Contents .........................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary .......................................................................................................4

SECTION 1 ........................................................................................................................5 Introduction ....................................................................................................................5

The Pilbara Region.....................................................................................................5 Methodology...............................................................................................................6

SECTION 2 ........................................................................................................................9 Business & Employment Concentrations .....................................................................9

Overview of Business and Employment in the Pilbara ............................................9 Business Concentrations...........................................................................................9 Business Numbers versus Concentrations ............................................................10 Employment concentrations ...................................................................................11

SECTION 3 ..................................................................................................................... 13 Growth of Business and Employment.........................................................................13

High Concentration High Growth Industries...........................................................13 High Growth Low Concentration Industries............................................................13 High Concentration Low Growth Industries............................................................15 Low Growth Low Concentration Industries.............................................................16

SECTION 4 ..................................................................................................................... 17 Conclusions & Recommendations..............................................................................17

Mining and Resources Cluster ................................................................................17 Transport Services Cluster ......................................................................................18 Double High Concentration Industries ...................................................................18 Identification of Training Needs..............................................................................20 Recommendations...................................................................................................21



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Executive Summary The following report outlines an analysis of employment and business concentrations within the Pilbara Region of WA that was designed to identify potential industry clusters in the region and to assist the Department of Education and Training to better target Vocational Education and Training (VET) services within the area.

Potential Industry Clusters At least two potential industry clusters were identified:

• Mining and Resources Industry Cluster – comprising the core industries of mining and oil and gas extraction, and the supporting industries of mining services, water and air transport, general construction, services to transport and metal products manufacturing. This “cluster” employs around 8,474 people in 285 businesses. This was focused around high concentration levels for employment not businesses.

• Transport Services Industry Cluster – comprising the core industries of air,

water, road and other transport, and the supporting industries of services to transport, storage, machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling and retailing, and machinery and equipment manufacturing. This “cluster” employs around 1,858 people in 385 businesses. This was focused around high concentration levels for businesses not employment.

High Business Concentration but Low Growth Industries At least four industries were identified as having both high employment and business concentrations: i) Services to Mining – such as mineral exploration and petroleum exploration; ii) General Construction – such as residential, commercial or public works; iii) Services to Transportation – such as customs agencies, freight forwarding, and iv) Water Transportation – shipping, ferries, tugs and barges. Together these industries employ around 1,490 people in 108 businesses.

“Double High” Industries At least four industries were identified as having both high employment and business concentrations: i) Services to Mining and Resources Industry Cluster; ii) General Construction; iii) Services to Transport; iv) Accommodation, Cafes & Restaurants. Together these industries employ around 2,401 people in 195 businesses. Recommendations

1. Further research is undertaken to survey directly businesses in the Pilbara region in high concentration low growth industries (see Table 6) with a view to identifying their current and future training needs

2. Additional research involving surveys should be undertaken with respect to

industries with above average employment and business concentrations to also identify future training needs.



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SECTION 1 Introduction

The following report has been prepared by the UWA Graduate School of Management’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Management and Innovation (CEMI) for the WA Department of Education and Training. This document provides an analysis of employment and industry concentrations within the Pilbara Region of WA that seeks to identify emerging industries that might require education and training services. This project was developed in response to the skills shortage being experienced in the WA economy. It aims to identify areas of potential growth within selected industry segments within the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. By examining industry and employment concentrations within the region it is possible to make some judgment as to the relative importance of different industries and to potentially target those that might require special attention.

The Pilbara Region

The Pilbara Region is one of the most important areas for the Australian mining and resources sector. Covering an area of 500,000 square kilometres, it is characterised by some of the oldest geological formations in the world and also significant mineral deposits, particularly iron ore. The region is broadly separated into three geographic areas: i) a coastal plain that runs onto the continental shelf containing many important concentrations of natural gas; ii) a series of inland mountain ranges, that contain many of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore; and iii) an arid desert that runs inland to the Northern Territory border. Rainfall in the region is generally low and temperatures can be high (e.g. over 32°C) during summer (October to April), and rarely falling below 25°C during the winter months. Population density is low with an estimated total population of only 39,311 in 2004. The majority of the people live in the coastal towns. Administratively the Pilbara Region is separated into four local government authorities (LGA), the Shires of Ashburton, East Pilbara and Roebourne and the Town of Port Hedland. The characteristics of these municipalities are described below:

• The Shire of Ashburton – with an estimated population of 5,987 in 2004 spread across an area of 105,647 square kilometres the Shire is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Australia. It is however, home to some of the world’s largest open cut mines, as well as some of the largest pastoral leases supporting cattle stations. The Shire also has a strong fishing industry. Employment is concentrated around mining and offshore oil and gas, cattle grazing, fishing and tourism. A major salt production operation is also to be found at Onslow.



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• The Shire of East Pilbara – covering an area of 379,571 square kilometres

but with a population of only 5,535 people the Shire has even less population density than Ashburton. When it was formed in 1972 the Shire was recorded as the largest LGA in the world. Major industries are mining, pastoral and tourism, with the majority of the Shire’s population concentrated within the towns of Newman, Marble Bar and Nullagine.

• The Shire of Roebourne – covering an area of approximately 15,197 square

kilometres the Shire had a population of 15,302 in 2004 of which the majority were located in the town of Karratha. Other towns within the Shire are Dampier, Wickham, Roebourne and Cossack that are clustered within a 50 kilometre radius of Karratha.

• The Town of Port Hedland – an administrative centre, Port Hedland is

separated into two residential areas, Port Hedland and South Hedland. Covering an area of 11,844 square kilometres, the LGA housed 12,487 people in 2004, 68 percent of who lived in South Hedland.

The Pilbara Region has a number of significant natural attractions such as the Dampier Archipelago, and the Karijini and Millstream/Chitchester National Parks. There are many Aboriginal heritage sites including some of Australia’s most important rock art.

Methodology

Industry clusters are most likely to emerge where above average concentrations of employment or industrial activity occur within a given geographic area. Such agglomerations at a local level can create specialisation and local production networks (LPN) (Isaksen, 1998). Such networks can be beneficial to small firms that may be sub-contracting or supplying to larger focal firms or that might need to share specialised common-user infrastructure. Concentration of business and employment within a given region can also create skilled labour pools and may stimulate knowledge hubs via interpersonal networking among entrepreneurs (Ostgaard & Birley, 1994). Such networking enables businesses, particularly small firms, to access specialised support services, common user infrastructure and skilled labour pools, at a discount because they are not required to carry the full cost of developing and keeping such intellectual or physical assets. Clustering supports this process by attracting to a region, specialised services that would otherwise be difficult to secure by more isolated industries (Rosenfeld, 1997). To provide an appropriate mapping of the Pilbara region, the starting point was the examination of business and employment concentrations. The aim of this phase of the study was to identify concentrations or location quotients of employment and business activity within the Pilbara region. This process was facilitated by an examination of business and employment concentrations within industry classifications as defined by the Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classifications (ANZSIC).



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The methodology followed in preparing this report involved the following two stages: 1. Gathering Employment and Business Industry Data

The data used for the business and employment concentration analysis were provided by the Department of Education and Training and were sourced from the most recent business statistics (1999-2003) available through Sensis Pty Ltd (Yellow Pages® Business Activity Reporting), and the most up to date employment statistics (2001) available through the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The employment numbers sourced from the ABS were for the Pilbara residents. Both the Yellow Pages® and ABS classify businesses and persons employed using the ANZSIC classification system. The ANZSIC classification traditionally has four levels. Level 1 ANZSIC codes provide figures for the major industries of which there are 17 in total. These major industries are broken down into more detailed sub-sectors, with level 2 providing 53 industries, level 3 providing 158 industries and level 4 providing 491 industries. The Yellow Pages® provides an additional level (level 5), with 2,600 categories. This study utilised categories down to level 2 for Yellow Pages® data and ABS data. Categories that featured as ‘undefined’ were omitted, as they did not add meaningful information to the study.

2. Identification of Possible Cluster Relationships

Using these data sets, location quotients of concentrations were assessed by comparing the employment and business concentrations as defined by the Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classifications (ANZSIC) in the Pilbara region with the State level. Location quotients were calculated using the percentage of businesses and employment in the industry categories in the Pilbara region and dividing this by the percentage of State businesses and employment in the same industry categories. The calculation for Pilbara’s business concentration in relation to Western Australia is shown below:

Ratios greater than one indicated that business/employment in the industry had a higher concentration than the comparative area. For example, a ratio of 2.0 would indicate that Pilbara had a concentration in an industry twice that of Western Australia. When the ratio for a specific industry is greater than one, it can be assumed that the particular industry in the region is significant and may be forming the core of a potential cluster. Using these ratios, all industry sectors in the region can be ranked in terms of their probable importance as exporters and wealth generators (Anderson, 1994). Attention

(Pilbara businesses / Total Pilbara businesses)

(WA businesses / Total WA businesses)



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was also given to any evidence of these business concentrations having grown or declined over time.



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SECTION 2 Business & Employment Concentrations

The following section outlines the findings from the analysis of business and employment data to identify industry and employment concentrations within the Pilbara Region.

Overview of Business and Employment in the Pilbara

In 2003 there were a total of 1,556 businesses located in the Pilbara Region, which was 18 percent fewer firms than had existed in the region 1999. During the same year the total employment within the region was estimated to be 19,865 with the majority of employees engaged in the metal ore mining (20%), business services (7%), education (7%) and construction trade services (6%) sectors. Despite this significant concentration of employment within the mining sector, the actual number of mining businesses with headquarters located within the Pilbara is negligible. Most employment is fly-in-fly-out in nature and the headquarters of the mining firms are generally located either in Perth or in other capital cities within Australia or overseas.

Business Concentrations

The data analysis undertaken with business numbers using ANZSIC classifications for the year 2003 identified sixteen industry sectors that profiled as having above average location quotients in comparison to the rest of WA. These are identified in Table 1. As shown in Table 1 the industries with the highest concentration ratios were found in services, particularly transportation services. These results are reflective of the region’s industry structure with a high volume of regional air transport due to the fly-in-fly-out policies of the mining and resource sector. Outside of the Perth metro area, the Pilbara is the major focal point of aviation services. This is also the case for water transport. The flow of shipping from the Pilbara for the resources sector is significant and is a major concentration outside of the Port of Fremantle. It is worth noting that while the concentration ratios for businesses within the Pilbara in these sectors is above average for WA, the actual number of businesses in these sectors is not always substantial. For example, while Electricity and Gas Supply was found to have an above average concentration ratio, the actual number of firms in the Pilbara is only one.



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Table 1: Business Concentrations in the Pilbara 2003 PILBARA

BUSINESS NUMBERS 2003 CONCENTRATION IN

COMPARISON TO WA Air and Space Transport 15 6.52

Water Transport 9 3.66

Other Transport 3 3.24

Motion Picture, Radio and Television Services 22 2.79

Other Services 79 2.70

Services to Mining 8 2.57

Communications Services 25 2.06

Road Transport 48 1.98

Services to Transport 33 1.96

Electricity and Gas Supply 1 1.96

Community Services 21 1.96

Motor Vehicle Retailing and Services 127 1.90

Commercial Fishing 3 1.59

Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants 101 1.53

Finance 6 1.48

General Construction 58 1.32

Sport and Recreation 45 1.25

Property Services 43 1.16

Business Numbers versus Concentrations

An examination of the actual number of businesses located within the Pilbara, compared to the concentration ratios for these industries is outlined in Table 2. In this table the industry sectors have been ranked in order of their actual numbers rather than their business concentration ratios. Only those industries that had double digit numbers were included in the table. It should be noted that despite the fact that mining is the Pilbara Region’s major industry, the number of mining businesses identified as being located in the region by Sensis is negligible. This is due to the nature of the mining industry, where the headquarters of these firms are located in Perth or other capital cities, and only operational units are found in the mine production areas. As shown in Table 2, the most numerous businesses are found in the services, retailing and accommodation, cafes and restaurants segments. This is reflective of a hollowing out of the regional economy in which the mine sites are temporary places of work for a fly in fly out workforce, and where the administrative headquarters of these major companies are also non-resident. It is mainly in the services sectors that most actual firms are to be found, and these businesses are mostly small to medium in size.



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Table 2: Business Numbers versus Business Concentrations 2003 PILBARA

BUSINESS NUMBERS

2003 CONCENTRATION IN COMPARISON TO WA

Business Services 153 0.82

Personal and Household Good Retailing 151 0.93

Motor Vehicle Retailing and Services 127 1.90

Construction Trade Services 107 0.67



Health Services 72 0.97

Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing 69 1.10


Food Retailing 55 1.16

Machinery and Motor Vehicle Wholesaling 50 1.03

Road Transport 48 1.98

Sport and Recreation 45 1.25

Property Services 43 1.16

Personal Services 40 0.48

Education 39 0.95


Metal Product Manufacturing 27 0.94

Personal and Household Good Wholesaling 26 0.48

Communications Services 25 2.06

Basic Material Wholesaling 24 0.59

Agriculture 22 0.34

Motion Picture, Radio and Television Services 22 2.79

Community Services 21 1.96

Petroleum, Coal, Chemical and Associated Product Manufacturing 16 0.99

Air and Space Transport 15 6.52

Employment concentrations

Table 3 illustrates the analysis of employment numbers and concentration ratios. As can be seen, the metal ore mining sector was the most prominent, but what this does not show is the number of employees that work in this sector but live outside the region. This data is available via the ABS but was not supplied to UWA for the analysis. As such it is not possible to state precisely what the actual number of employees within this sector are who both live and work in the region. It also assumes that all Pilbara residents work within the Pilbara region. Due to the remoteness of the Pilbara this is probably a valid assumption. Given the fly-in-fly-out policies of the major mining and resources firms, it is likely that the actual number of employees located within the mining sector within the Pilbara on a permanent basis is low. This is also likely to be the case for the other mining sectors and the oil and gas industries. Essentially the transient nature of the Pilbara’s workforce needs to be tracked before a reliable picture of the employment base in the region can be fully assessed.



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Table 3: Employment Numbers versus Employment Concentrations 2003 PILBARA

EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS

2003 CONCENTRATION IN COMPARISON

TO WA Metal Ore Mining 3955 9.24

Coal Mining 196 8.84

Other Mining 234 4.56

Oil and Gas Extraction 272 4.27

Water Transport 86 2.78

Services to Mining 289 2.18



Basic Material Wholesaling 378 1.55

Electricity and Gas Supply 145 1.41

Air and Space Transport 115 1.31

Construction Trade Services 1245 1.26

Government Administration 931 1.14


Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services 76 1.11

Metal Products 444 1.07




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SECTION 3 Growth of Business and Employment

The analysis involved tracking business and employment over the period from 1999 to 2003. This analysis comprised examining the relationship between industry concentration ratios and the change in these concentrations over the time period. Figure 1 illustrates these findings showing the distribution of industry sectors into one of four sections of the matrix comprising: 1. High concentration high growth – important growth industries; 2. High growth low concentration – potential emerging industries and 3. High concentration low growth – important industries that may require attention; 4. Low growth low concentration – industries of little promise.

High Concentration High Growth Industries

Interestingly the Pilbara was not found to possess any identifiable high growth, high concentration industries. As already noted, the region is the centre of Australia’s key mining and resources projects, particularly iron ore and offshore oil and gas. Despite the significant investment that is taking place into the Pilbara, the data sets that track business concentrations (as measured by reportable business units) does not reflect this activity due to the non-residential nature of the majority of these industries.

High Growth Low Concentration Industries

Only two industry sectors were found to have experienced high growth during the study period. These were non-metallic mineral product manufacturing (e.g. concrete, clay titles and bricks), and also wood and paper product manufacturing. These are shown in Table 4. Such industries are generally viewed as potential emerging ones given their high growth rates.

Table 4: High Growth Low Concentration Industries NUMBER INDUSTRY SECTOR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 EMPLOYMENT

2003 9 Non-Metallic Mineral Product Manufacturing 3 4 3 3 5 74

14 Wood and Paper Product Manufacturing 1 2 1 1 2 4

As shown in Table 4, the total number of businesses in these industry sectors was modest and the number of employees little better. However, a fairly large number people were employed in the non-metallic mineral product manufacturing sector.



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1316

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1820

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Pilbara Concentration Change (1999-2003)

Pilb

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Con

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ratio

n R

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(200

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Important industries that may require attention Important growth industries

Industries of little promise Potential emerging industries

Air & Space Transport

Services to Mining

Non Metallic Mineral Product Manufacturing

Water Transport

Other Transport

Commercial Fishing

General Construction

Construction

Film & TV Services

Wood & Paper Product Manufacturing


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High Concentration Low Growth Industries

Industries with high concentration but low growth are usually considered to be those that need attention with respect to economic enhancement strategies. A large number of industries were grouped into this category, these are listed in Table 5 where it can be seen the total number of businesses and the employment levels for each.

Table 5: High Concentration Low Growth Industries NUMBER INDUSTRY SECTOR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 EMPLOYMENT

2003 2 Commercial Fishing 7 4 5 5 4 41

5 Services to Mining* 7 8 9 10 8 289

7 Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing 95 89 89 77 69 292

11 Petroleum, Coal, Chemical and Associated Product Manufacturing

22 17 16 15 16 112

17 General Construction* 91 81 80 68 58 877

19 Machinery and Motor Vehicle Wholesaling 53 49 45 48 50 303

21 Food Retailing 66 60 67 61 55 897

22 Motor Vehicle Retailing and Services 133 124 146 135 127 426

24 Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants 118 103 113 103 101 997

26 Other Transport 3 4 5 3 3 3

27 Road Transport 53 47 51 49 48 388

28 Services to Transport* 34 33 39 37 33 238

29 Storage 5 5 5 4 4 7

30 Water Transport* 9 6 10 10 9 86

31 Communications Services 27 27 28 28 25 193

32 Finance 5 6 7 6 6 128

36 Property Services 47 44 50 45 43 301

38 Community Services 24 23 23 21 21 415

41 Motion Picture, Radio and Television Services 23 21 24 22 22 23

42 Sport and Recreation 44 40 46 45 45 76

43 Other Services 87 80 88 81 79 456

*denotes above average employment concentrations in comparison to WA As shown in Table 5 there were significant numbers of both businesses and employment levels in the motor vehicle retailing and services, and accommodation, cafes and restaurants sectors. However, the industry sectors that possessed above average employment concentrations in comparison to WA, as well as relatively high business concentrations and growth rates were:

• Services to Mining • General Construction • Services to Transport • Water Transport

Together these industries employed 1,490 people in 2003 within 108 businesses.



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Low Growth Low Concentration Industries

Industries with low growth and concentration are typically viewed as having little promise if they are not likely to grow. These industries are shown in Table 6 and it can be seen that while these industries were not experiencing growth in terms of the total number of businesses, there are several that possess a relatively high level of employment, particularly business services, education, construction trade services.

Table 6: Low Growth Low Concentration Industries NUMBER INDUSTRY SECTOR 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 EMPLOYMENT

2003 1 Agriculture 26 25 24 24 22 348

3 Services to Agriculture; Hunting and Trapping 2 3 3 3 3 38

4 Other Mining* 6 5 7 4 3 234

6 Food, Beverage and Tobacco 11 10 10 10 9 29

8 Metal Product Manufacturing 34 33 29 26 27 444

10 Other Manufacturing 9 8 9 7 7 36

12 Printing, Publishing and Recorded Media 11 10 11 8 7 34

13 Textile, Clothing, Footwear and Leather Manufacturing

6 7 6 6 5 10

15 Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services

1 0 1 0 0 76

16 Construction Trade Services* 157 136 139 118 107 1245

18 Basic Material Wholesaling* 35 26 25 21 24 378

20 Personal and Household Good Wholesaling 32 34 26 24 26 153

23 Personal and Household Good Retailing 207 179 198 167 151 656

25 Air and Space Transport* 15 15 15 14 15 115

33 Insurance 12 5 4 2 5 23

34 Services to Finance and Insurance 5 5 7 5 5 12

35 Business Services 174 159 176 155 153 1393

37 Education 50 50 47 46 39 1322

39 Health Services 84 73 82 77 72 695

40 Libraries, Museums and the Arts 8 4 4 4 6 82

44 Personal Services 54 47 49 42 40 315

*denotes above average employment concentrations in comparison to WA As shown in Table 6 there were four industry sectors that possessed above average employment concentrations in comparison to WA:

• Other mining • Construction Trade Services • Basic Material Wholesaling • Air and Space Transport

Together these industries employed 1,972 people in 2003 within 149 businesses.



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SECTION 4 Conclusions & Recommendations

This analysis suggests that the employment and industry structure of the Pilbara is potentially distorted by the non-resident nature of its key industries. The fly-in-fly-out policies of the mining and resources sectors appear to have led to a relatively low level of actual businesses based within the region despite their overall importance as employment generators.

Mining and Resources Cluster

It is worth noting that mining and resources employs a substantial number of people in the Pilbara even though they do not represent many actual businesses located within the region. Table 7 shows the broad profile of what might be described as a mining and resources cluster in the Pilbara. As can be seen, the most significant sectors in relation to employment concentration are metal ore, coal and other mining, particularly metal ore mining, but also oil and gas extraction. However, while these industry sectors comprise a large proportion of the Region’s workforce, they don’t represent high concentrations in terms of actual businesses headquartered there. In addition to the mining, oil and gas industries the Pilbara Region has such supporting industries as water and air transport, mining services, construction and metal products manufacturing “clustering” around the core industries.

Table 7: Mining and Resources Industry “Cluster” in the Pilbara INDUSTRY SECTOR 2003 EMPLOYMENT

CONCENTRATIONS IN COMPARISON TO WA

EMPLOYMENT 2003 BUSINESS NUMBERS 2003

CORE INDUSTRIES:

Metal Ore Mining 9.24 3955 0

Coal Mining 8.84 196 0

Other Mining 4.56 234 3

Oil and Gas Extraction 4.27 272 0

SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES:

Water Transport 2.78 86 9

Services to Mining 2.18 289 8

General Construction 1.63 877 58

Services to Transport 1.61 238 33

Basic Material Wholesaling 1.55 378 24

Electricity and Gas Supply 1.41 145 1

Air & Space Transport 1.31 115 15

Construction Trade Services 1.26 1245 107

Metal Products Manufacturing 1.07 444 27

TOTAL 8474 285



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Transport Services Cluster

In addition to the potential mining and resources cluster, the Pilbara Region also appears to have a transport services cluster forming. Table 8 lists these industries where it can be seen that air, water, road and other transport industries comprise the core, with various supporting industries such as services to transport, machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling and retailing, storage and machinery and equipment manufacturing. It should be noted that while the mining and resources cluster outlined in Table 7 was focused around employment concentrations, this transport services cluster is focused around business concentrations.

Table 8: Transport Services “Cluster” in the Pilbara INDUSTRY SECTOR 2003 BUSINESS

CONCENTRATIONS IN COMPARISON TO WA

EMPLOYMENT 2003 BUSINESS NUMBERS 2003

CORE INDUSTRIES:

Air & Space Transport 6.52 115 15

Water Transport 3.66 86 9

Other Transport 3.24 3 3

Road Transport 1.98 388 48

SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES:

Services to Transport 1.96 238 33

Motor Vehicle Retailing and Services

1.90 426 127

Storage 1.22 7 4

Machinery & Equipment Manufacturing

1.10 292 69

Machinery & Motor Vehicle Wholesaling

1.03 303 50

TOTAL 1858 385

Double High Concentration Industries

In assessing the opportunities for VET services in the Pilbara Region a final analysis involves an examination of what might be described as “double high” industries, or those with above average concentration ratios in both employment and businesses. Table 9 lists these industries of which there were four as identified from the 2003 data:

• Services to Mining • General Construction • Services to Transport • Accommodation, cafes and restaurants

These four industry sectors comprised 2,401 employees and 195 businesses or some 12 percent of all employment and 12.5 percent of all businesses.



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Table 9: “Double High” Industries in the Pilbara

INDUSTRY SECTOR 2003 EMPLOYMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN COMPARISON TO WA

2003 BUSINESS CONCENTRATIONS IN COMPARISON TO WA

EMPLOYMENT 2003

BUSINESS NUMBERS

2003 Services to Mining 2.18 2.57 289 3

General Construction 1.63 1.32 877 58

Services to Transport 1.61 1.96 238 33

Accommodation, Cafes & Restaurants

1.04 1.53 997 101

TOTAL 2401 195

It should be noted that these four industries can be further disaggregated into the following sub-sectors: • Services to Mining:

o Mineral exploration services o Petroleum exploration

services • General Construction:

o House construction o Non-residential building

construction o Non-building construction o Road and bridge construction

• Services to Transport o Export agents o Customs brokers o Transport & forwarding

agents o Air cargo services o Shipping consultants o Baggage agents o Ship provedores o Ship chandlers o Ship brokers & charting

services Ship delivery contractors

o Cargo superintendents o Shipping companies & agents o Travel agency services o Airports o Parking stations o Weighbridges o Transport escort and pilot

services

• Services to Transport (continued) o Road side assistance o Toll road operations o Tugs & barges o Marine salvage and/or

equipment o Port representatives overseas o Stevedores o Mooring contractors

• Accommodation o Hotels o Caravans & tourist parks o Youth hostels o Homes & special accommodation o Guest houses o Apartments & flats o Camps o Accommodation inquiry services o Health holiday & retreats o Bed & breakfasts o Backpackers o Serviced apartments

• Cafes & restaurants o Catering functions o Restaurants o Cafes o Catering food consultants o Catering industrial & commercial o Theatre restaurants o Wine bars o Night clubs & discotheques

At time of writing it is not possible to identify the actual number of businesses located within the Pilbara Region that might group into these sub-sectors. However, it is likely that many of these specialist sectors would be found there.



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Identification of Training Needs

Given the available data for this analysis it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions in relation to training needs within these industries. According to VET statistics the top 10 courses delivered in the region by the TAFE system in 2003 were: 1. Certificate II in Business 2. Miscellaneous Aboriginal Short Courses 3. Certificate III in Engineering – Mechanical Trade 4. Certificate III in Children’s Services (Teacher Assistant) 5. Certificate I in General Education for Adults 6. Certificate I in Industrial Skills (Entry Level Training) 7. Certificate I in Engineering 8. Certificate II in Metalliferous Mining Operations (Open Cut) 9. Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training 10. Certificate I in Business During 2004 the top 10 courses delivered by TAFE in the region were: 1. Certificate II in Business 2. Certificate II in Metalliferous Mining Operations (Open Cut) 3. Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training 4. Certificate I in Engineering 5. Certificate II in Engineering – Production 6. Miscellaneous Aboriginal Short Courses 7. Certificate III in Engineering – Mechanical Trade 8. Certificate III in Transport and Distribution (Road Transport) 9. Certificate II in Information Technology (Applications) 10. Certificate I in Industrial Skills (Entry Level Training) According to TAFE there was a decline in the overall number of course enrolments and student contact hours in the Pilbara during the period 2001 to 2003. This was most noticeable within the metals and mining sector, while the forestry, farming and landcare, cooking and hospitality areas saw significant increases in activity. Other areas that witnessed increases were the visual and performing arts, computing and adult literacy. In a comment by the TAFE sector the following observation was made:

“However, these figures do indicate that the predominant focus of delivery has been targeted at meeting the demand from the resource sector. There is a need for VET to assist in the regional economy to diversify”.1

From the findings of industry and employment concentrations it would appear that there may be potential opportunities within the mining services, construction and transport services industries for VET programs.

1 Assessing Demand and Establishing Priorities for VET: Pilbara Region (2005)

Draft Report, Department of Education and Training, unpublished, page 31.



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Recommendations

The purpose of this study was to seek to identify areas of employment growth within the Pilbara Region and make recommendations likely to assist the future directions of the TAFE-VET services delivered in that region. This study was limited in some aspects of what it could do due to the nature of the data supplied to us for analysis. For example, there was insufficient employment data available that did not allow us to track whether the people identified in these industry sectors were living and working within the region or engaged in a fly-in-fly-out employment model. Despite these limitations it is recommended that:

3. Further research is undertaken to survey directly businesses in the Pilbara region in high concentration low growth industries (see Table 6) with a view to identifying their current and future training needs. Specific attention should be given to:

a. Commercial fishing b. Services to mining c. Machinery and equipment manufacturing d. General construction.

4. Additional research involving surveys should be undertaken with respect to

industries with above average employment and business concentrations to also identify future training needs, these should include:

a. Services to mining b. General construction c. Services to transport d. Accommodation, cafes and restaurants

TAFE WA Pilbara Region - CEMI

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