ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads stable

ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads declined 1.4 per cent month on month in February, but this follows an upwardly revised 1.3 per cent m/m rise in January. In trend terms, the series was down 0.3 per cent month on month.

ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads is down 9.2 per cent annually. The series is just 0.9 per cent higher than its low in August 2024 and has remained within a tight range of 2.1 points in the prior six months.

"ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads has only declined 0.1 per cent so far in 2025, and the series is up just 0.9 per cent from its August low. The stabilisation in the series follows robust employment growth of 44,000 in January and an all-time high in the participation rate of 67.3 per cent," ANZ Economist, Sophia Angala said.

"The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1 per cent in January and has remained within the tight 3.9-4.2 per cent range for 11 consecutive months. Some of the stabilisation in the unemployment rate could be explained by the steady improvement in market sector jobs growth over 2024, with the accommodation and food services industry recording the largest rise in employment in the past year.

"Given the resilience of the labour market and stabilisation of leading indicators, we now expect the unemployment rate to peak at 4.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, before gradually declining to 3.9 per cent by the end of 2026".

"While ANZ-Indeed Job Ads have been relatively stable since August, that hasn’t been true regionally. Job Ads in Victoria and Tasmania have fallen considerably over that time frame, offset by gains in Queensland and Western Australia," said Indeed Senior Economist, Callam Pickering.

"Since August, Job Ads have increased in around 60 per cent of sectors, led by strong gains in food service, management and cleaning & sanitation roles. The biggest drag on Job Ads comes from education & training. Normally February is a seasonally strong month for education opportunities, but that certainly wasn’t the case in 2025."

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