Australia: Job Ads Ease in February

The total number of Australian jobs advertised in newspapers and on the internet declined by 2 percent in February to an average of 268,869 per week. This follows a revised 0.8 percent rise in January (initially reported as a 1.8 percent increase). The total number of advertisements in February remains 24.4% higher than 12 months ago.

Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, the number of job ads in major metropolitan newspapers increased marginally by 0.3 percent in February to an average of 19,192 per week. This followed a 9 percent drop in January. In trend terms, the number of newspaper job advertisements fell by 1.3 percent, to be 2.2 percent lower than a year ago.

The weakness in newspaper job ads in February was driven by Queensland and South Australia. The other states recorded modest rebounds after sizeable falls last month. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory continued a run of positive results.

The number of internet job ads declined by 2.2 percent in February to average 249,677 per week. In trend terms, internet job advertisements increased by 1.2 percent to be 29.1 percent higher than a year ago.

ANZ Head of Australian Economics, Mr Tony Pearson, said: “Total job advertisements fell in February for the first time since November 2006, and the annual rate of increase cooled to the lowest in a year. Trend advertisements have now been easing for three months. We don’t want to make too much of one month’s data, as the series can be volatile. Nevertheless, it may be that the cumulative impact of interest rate rises and continued volatility on financial markets is leading to some caution on the part of employers. Having said that, the total number of job advertisements is only a little below record highs, suggesting overall demand for workers remains robust.”

“There remain marked differences in the demand for labour between the regions. Job advertisements are trending up strongly in both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. In contrast, job advertisements are declining in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. In New South Wales and Victoria, advertisements are broadly flat in trend terms,” Mr Pearson said.