Australia | Jan 14 2008
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
The total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet in Australia surged by 7.1% in December to a weekly average of 274,653 per week, economists at ANZ Bank report. They add the December survey represents the strongest monthly increase since May 2007. The total number of advertisements in December was 31% higher than 12 months ago.
Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, the number of job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers increased by 3.9% in December to an average of 21,292 per week. This follows a 0.2% increase in November. Newspaper advertisements are now 3.9% higher than a year ago.
ANZ reports the rise in newspaper job advertisements in December was driven by increases in New South Wales (7.7%); Tasmania (8.8%); the Northern Territory (8.2%); the Australian Capital Territory (6.3%); South Australia (5.3%); Victoria (2.3%) and Western Australia (1.2%). Queensland bucked the nationwide trend with a small decline (-0.9%).
In level terms, the number of newspaper job advertisements in New South Wales and Tasmania are now at their highest since 2005. In South Australia, the number of advertisements is at its highest since 1989, while in the Northern Territory the number is at its highest on record.
The number of internet job advertisements grew strongly by 7.4% in December to average 253,361 per week. In trend terms, internet job advertisements increased by 1.7% to be 33.3% higher than a year ago.