Clancy Yeates at WAtoday reports on the eye-popping salaries being received by mining and gas project workers in Western Australia as a result of a massive skills shortage.
At an offshore gas project, for example, a welder can pocket more than $300,000 a year, and some are seeking more than $400,000 in the next round of negotiations. On dry land, a worker who makes the beds or cleans at an isolated mining project can also expect a six-figure pay packet. As for the staff at McDonald’s in the Pilbara’s resources hub of Karratha, many of them are flown in and out by their employer because there aren’t enough locals willing to do the job.