Australia | Apr 10 2007
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
ANZ Bank reports the total number of jobs advertised in Australia via major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet rose by 1.9% in March to a weekly average of 220,754 per week. This follows a solid 3.4% rise in total advertisements recorded in February. The total number of advertisements in March was 24.7% higher than 12 months ago.
Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, ANZ reports the number of job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers increased by 2.0% in March to an average of 20,154 per week. This rebound follows a 2.6% decline in February. Newspaper advertisements are now at a similar level as in March 2006, the bank reports.
On a regional view, newspaper job advertisements in February rose nearly everywhere with Tasmania (-2.6%) and Victoria (-0.1%) standing out in a negative sense.
The number of internet job advertisements grew by 1.9% in March to an average of 200,600 per week. ANZ points out that in trend terms internet job advertisements are still growing solidly. Annual growth has picked up slightly over the past six months.
Economists at the bank draw the conclusion from these figures that demand for labour throughout Australia remains at a high level with the data suggesting an acceleration in employment growth in the coming months.
It is ANZ’s view there remains little prospect of an easing in Australian labour market conditions, at least for the short term.