China will fuel Aussie job demand

China watchers are pointing to the opportunities for well-trained Australians as the northern giant’s economy expands and swells its well-heeled middle class.

It will carry the effects of the Chinese boom to a range of skill sets beyond those required by the mining sector.

One experienced China watcher said: “If you are in the construction industry and do a TAFE course in basic Mandarin, you could become a billionaire.”

Experts told news.com.au the prospects for skilled Australians will increase over the next 15 to 20 years as China becomes the most powerful consumer economy on the globe.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Trade Minister Craig Emerson will soon travel to China in a bid to make it easier for Australians to get these jobs – known as service exports.

They will underline that while the mining boom benefits a small number of states and miners, the services export boom will benefit a wide range of people.  It won’t be necessary to own an iron ore mine to get a lucrative slice of the Chinese phenomenon.

Which jobs?

The jobs include vocations in which Australians already are world leaders, such as mining engineering, but also agri-science, food security, green architecture and business development.

There will be huge demand for architects and urban designers as the Chinese put a priority on ensuring its rapidly growing number of cities – most bigger than Sydney – are both functional and comfortable.

By 2020 there will be 93 Chinese cities of five million inhabitants or more.  By the same date, there are expected to be more middle class consumers in Asia than the rest of the world combined, and most of them will be in China.

Chinese are moving from the country to the city at a rate of about 14 million people a year, and it is calculated some 50,000 additional skyscrapers will be needed for them by 2025.

“The implications for high-value knowledge economies like Australia stretch well beyond the mining boom,” Treasurer Wayne Swan said on May 11.

How to clean up

China is spending more to repair environmental damage caused by its initial rush of economic growth, and wants to focus more on preventing future damage.

This will create employment for such service providers as hydrologists, environmental planners and environmental scientists.

The Chinese government also wants to keep its independence in food production.  It wants to strengthen its food security and not have to rely on imports from other countries.

This, plus the more sophisticated menu demands of the Chinese middle class, are certain to produce contracts for agricultural economists, rural scientists, experts in animal husbandry and biotechnologists.

A similar self-reliance is wanted in mineral resources, which would provide work for Australian mining engineers.