Underground mine managers and their deputies in coal are in demand in NSW in response to an increase in operations, according to employment group Hays.

It is also experiencing increased demand for mining engineers, again due to an increase in operations.

However, Hays said, NSW mines were finding it difficult to match incentives offered by operations in Queensland.

"Given that NSW does not have the volume of mine operations that Queensland and Western Australia do, the candidate pool is smaller," it said

"Residential salaries are also lower compared to FIFO [fly-in, fly-out] roles, which makes it difficult to attract interstate candidates."

As more mines approve tonnage increases there will be a growing need for tradespeople, especially in the Hunter region.

"Competing for this talent are both the mine owners and OEMs," Hays said.

"With demand for talent growing, the resulting wage pressure has seen multiple mines either increase their base salaries or look at other innovative salary packaging ideas to help attract the top talent."