Job ads rise for fourth month

Employment growth in Australia registered its fourth consecutive monthly rise in September with job ads increasing 0.9 per cent, according to the ANZ job advertisements series.

"The gradual improvement... is an encouraging sign that labour demand is solidifying."
Warren Hogan, ANZ chief economist

“The gradual improvement in ANZ Job Ads is an encouraging sign that labour demand is solidifying," ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said.

"Employment opportunities are now growing at an annual rate of 7.9 per cent, a moderate rate by historical standards but the fastest rate in over two years.”

The improvement in September was driven by internet job ads which rose 1.1 per cent, although newspaper job advertisements - which make up only around 5 per cent of the total - declined by 3.5 per cent.

Newspaper ads are however trended higher in a number of states, particularly in Victoria (a new development in the past two months), Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Modest growth was recorded in New South Wales and Tasmania, while newspaper job ads remain in decline in South Australia and the ACT.

Other leading indicators of labour demand, such as business conditions, profitability and capacity utilisation, also point to trend improvement in employment, although some retracement is still expected.

“We expect unemployment rate to stabilise at 6 per cent over the next few quarters, before decreasing gradually from there," ANZ Senior Economist Riki Polygenis said.

"Employment in mining and related industries will be weighed down by the windback in mining investment, while improving conditions in some labour intensive industries such as health and construction should provide an offset."

“Recent depreciation of the Australian dollar will also assist in the transition towards non-mining sources of economic growth, assist employment in some industries such as tourism and help stem job losses in manufacturing.”