Australia job ads rise 1.7% m-o-m in Nov: ANZ survey

[SYDNEY] Australian job advertisements posted a second month of solid gains in November, a survey showed on Monday, a positive sign for a pick up in employment A monthly survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group showed total job advertisements rose 1.7 per cent in November, from October when they climbed 1.0 per cent.

That lifted the annual pace of job ads growth to 6.1 per cent, from 5.2 per cent in October. ANZ no longer provides a breakdown between internet job ads and those in newspapers, as the latter are now a tiny share of total ads.

"The rise in ANZ job ads over the past four months is quite encouraging given the recent softness in the employment data,"said Felicity Emmett, head of Australian economics at ANZ. "It is consistent with our view that although the pace of improvement in the labour market has slowed, conditions remain supportive of ongoing recovery."

While the official jobless rate is at a three-year low of 5.6 per cent, employment growth has slowed markedly and hiring was heavily skewed toward part-time positions. "The strength in job ads recently, however, suggests that moderate economic growth should remain supportive of an ongoing gradual fall in the unemployment rate, given still solid business conditions and low interest rates," added Ms Emmett.

REUTERS