Strong growth in demand for trades and services are driving robust conditions in Australia’s job market, the latest report has found.

In its latest announcement, employment advertising web site SEEK said the number of advertisements on its site was up by 16.1 percent on the previous year as employers battled to secure new workers ahead of the festive season.

Whilst mining, resources and energy offered the largest gains in percentage terms (59 percent) followed by engineering (36 percent), the biggest number of opportunities by number fell in the trades and services category.

“Advertising on SEEK is booming, this October we saw the largest rate of annual job ad growth this year,” SEEK Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Michael Ilczynski said.

“Fuelling this advertising uplift was positive growth across 28 of the 29 industries on SEEK this October.”

Around Australia demand for tradespeople in industries such as construction is likely to remain positive as a significant number of large projects get off the ground.

In its recent Quarterly Report, recruitment outfit Hays described an environment of massive demand for a range of trades.

These included excavator operators, HC Tipper Drivers, stormwater pipelayers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians as well as experience production workers who specialise in precast panels, glazing and facades.

In New South Wales, for example, Hays says tradespeople in areas such as carpentry, plumbing, painting and welding are asking for higher rates amid increasing demand for their skills.

In the ACT, meanwhile, small builders and subcontractors are having great difficulty finding staff as significant numbers of construction workers are concentrated on fewer sites.

In Victoria, meanwhile, pay rates have risen by as much as $8 per hour as job ads (according to Hays) have risen by over 40 percent.

With the $11 billion metro tunnel project alone expected to employ over 4,500 workers at its peak, tradespeople are likely to be in a strong bargaining position to secure more pay rises yet.