Australia job vacancies fall 1.1% in May quarter

[SYDNEY] Job vacancies in Australia slipped 1.1 per cent in the three months ended May, the first fall since early 2016, in yet another sign the country's economy is losing momentum.

Australia's labour market was a rare bright spot for its A$1.9 trillion economy. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has often cited the strength of vacancies as a major reason for its optimism that continued jobs growth would spark wage inflation.

Total job vacancies eased a seasonally adjusted 1.1 per cent to 241,500 in the March-May quarter, from the previous quarter, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday.

That was the first negative reading since February 2016.

Vacancies in the private sector fell 1.6 per cent to 219,400 after hitting a record high in the previous quarter. The public sector saw vacancies jumped 3.8 per cent to 22,100.

Analysts value the vacancies series as it has proved a reliable leading indicator of labour demand and turning points in employment growth.

REUTERS