Australia: Job Advertisements Rise Strongly

Australian job ads surged by 10.3% in May to an average of 251,998 per week, following a solid 3.5% rise in April. The number of jobs advertised in May was 40.8% higher than 12 months ago. Job ads in newspapers increased by 4.5% while Internet job ads grew by a bumper 10.9% to an average of 231,211 per week.

Internet job ads are growing solidly, and annual growth has picked up to 36.2% from 25.9% six months ago.

This rise in newspaper ads was driven by increases in South Australia (9.3%); Western Australia (7.8%); New South Wales (6.5%); Queensland (3.8%); the Northern Territory (3.2%); and Victoria (0.6%). These rises were partially offset by job advertising falls in Tasmania (-0.2%) and the ACT (-5.4%).

“Job advertisements rose very strongly in May, with both newspaper and Internet job advertisements showing large increases. Job Advertisements continue to post monthly rises that are close to recent record highs. In short, the demand for labour is booming. This adds to a range of economic indicators that show the Australian economy entered 2007 with a great deal of momentum,” ANZ Head of Australian Economics Tony Pearson said, commenting on the figures compiled for the ANZ Job Advertisement Series.

Employment growth in Australia has continued at a robust pace in recent months and there is a likelihood of even stronger employment growth in the months ahead. The rate of unemployment is already at a 32-year low of 4.4%. There is now a good chance that the unemployment rate will fall again to new cyclic lows over coming months,” Mr Pearson said.