It marked the continuation of a dramatic turnaround from conditions seen several years ago, where in the midst of the mining boom companies were luring workers with astronomical wages.

Back then skilled employees were a precious commodity, and with acute shortages in some sectors desperate companies were willing to offer big rewards.

Nowadays things are a little more complicated.

There is no doubt there are still shortages driving highly paid jobs in the sector, and overall wages remain relatively high. But there is also no doubt that the mood has changed, and industry-wide cost cutting has left its dent on employment numbers over the past 12 months.

Workforce planning specialist Shane Granger has conducted his own research into mining workforce trends, and he told Mining News a recent rebound in commodity prices had done little to boost the resources that were hit hard last year.

“The data has shown solid employment in iron ore and some specialised resource groups but at least two rounds of significant cost cutting in those commodities that suffered initially from the crash of mid-2012 and have since only marginally recovered, namely coal and gold,” he said.

Looking back over the trend in 2013, Granger said some of the country’s most active sectors had suffered significant job cuts.

“For me, gold has been the commodity to take the biggest employment hit and the cost cutting and closure of mines has been quite interesting, especially given that the price has picked up to sustainable levels, assuming a price around $1,100 is sustainable in 2013,” he said.

“Queensland coal is also especially hard hit at the moment as more and more productive capacity comes online post infrastructure build.”

But the job cuts have not been isolated to gold and coal, and even iron ore has had its fair share of contractor layoffs over the past 12 months.

The impact of these cuts on the remaining workers has been significant, and close watchers of the sector say employees at the grassroots level started to change their outlook during 2013.

Stellar Recruitment managing director Shaun McCambridge told Mining News job cuts around the nation had led to a change in attitude not only from mining companies but the workers themselves.

“We’ve found that employees are starting to get nervous about switching jobs,” he said.

“One of the biggest issues is the fact that people are much more mindful about moving to a secure opportunity and not making the wrong decision.”

However, despite the wide ranging cuts McCambridge said skill shortages remained in some areas and companies were still finding it hard to find the right people.

“It’s been an interesting year,” he said.

“There’s definitely been a reduction in the last 12 months, in particular an easing of hiring relative to the last couple of years.

“But while there has been a fall in the market there are still some key skills that are in strong demand, particularly with mine management and project management and some niche maintenance related roles where the skills are fairly scarce.”

Taking in the wider picture McCambridge said iron ore was still well positioned and metallurgical coal was looking good compared to thermal, where there were still some projects on a knife-edge.

“Looking further afield we’ve seen that some of the lower cost gold and precious metal producers overseas that haven’t been affected by high cost labour continue to perform well,” he said.

Overall 2013 has been a more challenging year for miners, and the business environment has been reflected in the industry’s hiring patterns.

However, like any industry of its size the Australian sector is still home to its fair share of bright spots, and not all of them hail from the iron ore sector.

“We’re still seeing some companies grow in this environment by being innovative with their cost management and the services they’re offering,” McCambridge said.

This focus on innovation and productivity has taken a prime spot in the strategies of most miners, and Granger said the trend was one to watch as the industry moved into 2014 and beyond.

“Without a doubt I think the oncoming ‘automation storm’ will be the big story in the next couple of years,” he said.

Other things to watch for included a steady decline in wages and conditions for employees following the boom period of the past few years.

“I already think we are close or past peak employment in mining,” Granger said.

“Thus I’d see some level of heightened industrial relations discussion from next year as wages and conditions decline but mining companies shore up battered profit/loss through greater productivity.”

It is understood employment contracts have already been under re-negotiation in some parts of Queensland’s Bowen and Surat basins, and smaller companies in Western Australia, particularly in the gold sector, have also cut wages in 2013.

Along with staff reductions these cuts are a natural side effect of falling commodity prices and tightening profits, and Granger said it was likely an increase in union and industrial relations issues could also be on the horizon.

Outside these issues McCambridge said hiring patterns in 2014 looked to be shaping up similar to the trends that emerged over the past 12 months.

“Our prediction for 2014 is that it’s going to be a fairly similar year and that’s what we’ve been hearing from our clients as well,” he said.

“The current conditions are now the new norm and the industry is continuing to adjust.”