The Australian Institute of Geoscientists surveyed its members and found the unemployment rate had climbed to 7.9% in the first three months of 2013.

This compares to a jobless rate of 6.1% in the December quarter.

AIG president Kaylene Camuti said those working in mineral exploration had been the hardest hit by the mining slowdown, with employment in that field up to 9.9% and an under-employment rate of 13.4%, up from 4.9% and 9.3% at the end of 2012.

“Our survey results are clear evidence that exploration, critical to the future of Australia’s resource industries, is entering a downturn, with the combined rate of unemployment and under-employment amongst geoscientist professionals in the sector continuing to rise,” she said.

Camuti said that while global economic conditions have had some impact on the sector, there were a number of domestic factors contributing to the slowdown. He called on the government to help smooth the cyclical nature of exploration investment.

“The risks associated with the loss of geoscience knowledge, the erosion of Australia’s geoscientific skills base and the sharp slow-down in exploration and research on individual projects should be recognised as they have a pronounced impact on productivity, and on both the rate and cost of discovery in the Australian exploration sector,” she said.

Victoria is experiencing the worst of the downturn, with an unemployment rate of 14% among geoscientists, though Tasmania is not far behind at 13%.

The rates for Queensland and New South Wales came in at 7% and 10% respectively.

In Western Australia, the unemployment rate increased from 5.2% to 7% quarter on quarter

Under-employment rates also jumped during the quarter, up to 11.3% from 7.8% at December 31 and Tasmania reported the worst conditions at 38% under-employment.

South Australia defied the national trend with an unemployment rate of 3%.

Across Australia, all respondents in the environmental geoscience sector reported being under-employed in the March quarter.

Only 4% of unemployed and underemployed geoscientists gained full employment in the first quarter.

Camuti said that alarmingly, 54% of unemployed and under-employed geoscientists expressed no confidence in returning to full employment during the next 12 months. Less than half of employed professionals expressed confidence in retaining their positions for a year or more.