Australia

Australia: In 2011, the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of north-west Australia was on the frontier of a 21st century gold rush, this time with iron ore as the main prize – driven by China formidable appetite for natural resources to build up its infrastructure and modernise its economy, according to The Guardian. Pilbara boasted salaries two-thirds higher than the national average and almost 80% of workers were flown into their jobs from Australia big cities. Apartment blocks hurriedly tacked together by developers at the peak of the country boom stand empty, because their promised supply of fly-in-fly-out mineworkers has dried up, along with the jobs they were brought in to do. Now, mortgaged to the hilt on homes that lost value almost before the paint had dried, the mineworkers that remain are accepting longer hours and lower wages in an effort to keep up with the repayments. Oil, not iron ore, has been the foundation of that city prosperity. Their plight resonates thousands of miles away in Calgary, Canada. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.