BHP Billiton has predicted Australia's resources industry will need an extra 170,000 workers in the next five years, a figure 60 per cent higher than a  previous government forecast used to develop policies for meeting skills demand.

 

A federal taskforce into resources employment last year said 61,500 mining jobs would be created by 2015 and the construction workforce would peak at 45,000.

 

The vast majority of the jobs growth is forecast for Western Australia and Queensland, where companies are rapidly investing in coal, iron ore and liquefied natural gas.

 

To meet the massive labour demand, mining giants have already unleashed a recruitment drive in depressed economic regions in Australia, and are likely to expand use of foreign workers.

 

Enterprise migration agreements, announced in the budget, will soon allow major resources projects to source foreign temporary labour forces more easily.

 

Official figures show mining investment valued at $430 billion is under way or on the drawing board, and Treasury predicts the sector's output will mushroom by 77 per cent by 2020.

 

Rio Tinto expects to hire 6000 workers as part of a 50 per cent expansion in its iron ore operations in Western Australia, while BHP will also add several thousand jobs in the state.

 

The chief executive of the skills council for the energy industry, Bob Taylor, said BHP's projection was probably a ''conservative estimate''.