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Number of job advertisements continued to decline in September, falling 2.1% m/m to be just 3.1% above year ago levels.

13 October 2011

Highlights of the latest ANZ Job Advertisement series show that:

• Job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers decreased by 2.1% in September. Annual growth in total job advertisements decelerated to 3.1% y/y.
• Newspaper job ads were flat in September, while internet job advertising decreased by 2.2% m/m. Newspaper advertising is now 12.8% lower than a year ago, while internet advertising is 4.0% higher over the same period. Newspaper job advertisements fell across all states and territories with the exception of Western Australia and Queensland. Newspaper job advertising in the states with larger mining exposures rose. In Queensland, job advertising rose 8.0% m/m, while advertising rose 9.4% m/m in Western Australia.
• In trend terms, total job ads fell by 0.6% m/m in September with the annual growth rate slowing to 3.8% y/y.

According to ANZ Head of Australian Economics and Property Research, Ivan Colhoun, the fall in job advertising was due to a 2.2% m/m fall in internet advertising, while newspaper advertising remained steady. To date, the weakening trend for job advertising is more like the 1995-96 experience rather than the sharp slowdown during the global financial crisis in 2008-09 or even the more significant slowdown experienced in 2000-01, he says. In line with a rising unemployment rate, wages and underlying inflation pressures are likely to moderate. Trends in job advertising are again beginning to reflect the emergence of a more noticeable geographic split to Australian economic growth. Job advertisements are rising solidly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory and the declining trend is moderating in Queensland (together the states with the greatest exposure to mining). At the same time, advertising is continuing to slow reasonably quickly in NSW and Victoria.
Excerpt from: The ANZ Job Advertisement series (www.anz.com), 10 October 2011