Mining is the second smallest industry division in terms both of employment and number of business units in Australia. Employment accounts for less than 1 percent of all jobs. The outlook for employment is clouded by continuing uncertainty in Australia's main Asian markets and by the longer-term impact of environmental concerns. Mining industry employment is dominated by male full-time jobs, particularly in the coal mining and metal ore mining sectors. It has the lowest level of part-time jobs and jobs for women of all industry sectors. Overall downward movement in employment is expected. The mining industry differs from the total workforce's occupational composition in having a high proportion of its workforce in the intermediate production and transport group. It also has a well-above-average proportion in the tradespersons and related category, indicating it is significantly dependent on the vocational education and training (VET) sector for its skills formation. A disproportionately high number of workers have a trade qualification. Average weekly hours worked are well above the all-industry average. Mining employees are the highest earning workers in Australia. Most employment is found in Western Australia and New South Wales. VET graduates employed in mining rate the relevance of their training quite high. The mining industry spends substantially more per employee on structured training than any other industry. (Four tables are appended.) (YLB)