Engineering Recruitment, Engineers Recruitment, Engineering Employment, Engineering Professionals, Engineering Jobs, WA, Australia

11 November 2011

Highlights of the latest ANZ Job Advertisement series show that:

• Job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers decreased by 0.7% in October, the sixth fall in seven months. Annual growth in total job advertisements slowed to 1.8% y/y.
• Newspaper job ads were 2.7% lower in October, while internet job advertising decreased by 0.6% m/m. Newspaper advertising is now 16.7% lower than a year ago, while internet advertising is 2.8% higher over the same period, in part reflecting the continuing trend towards advertising online. There was weakness in newspaper job advertising across the other states with New South Wales (-1.7% m/m), Victoria (-5.6% m/m) and Western Australia (-6.2% m/m).
• In trend terms, total job ads fell by 0.6% m/m in October with the annual growth rate slowing to 1.5% y/y. Job advertising began slowing in January 2011 and has been negative since April.

According to ANZ Head of Australian Economics and Property Research, Ivan Colhoun, the weakness in both internet and newspaper advertising suggests below trend growth in employment and a gradual rise in the unemployment rate over coming months. However, the decline in job advertising to date is very moderate. Trends in job advertising are again beginning to reflect the emergence of a more noticeable geographic split to Australian economic growth. The trend in job advertising remains positive for Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland (the states with the greatest exposure to mining). ANZ forecasts the unemployment rate to rise to 5.5% by mid-2012. However, with the mining investment boom building through 2012 and with the subsequent flow on effects on the Australian economy, ANZ does not foresee a more substantial increase in the unemployment rate.

Excerpt from: The ANZ Job Advertisement series (www.anz.com), 7 November 2011