Australia | Jul 09 2007
By Chris Shaw
Further evidence of a strong Australian employment market has been received this morning with the release of the ANZ Job advertisements data for June showing a fall of 0.8%, an outcome better than had been anticipated.
The bank’s head of Australian economics, Tony Pearson, said a more substantial fall had been expected for the month given the very strong 10.3% increase in May but the actual decline was of little consequence and reinforces the fact demand for labour remains at record levels.
This leads Pearson to suggest Australia will continue to enjoy strong employment growth in coming months, meaning the unemployment rate could fall below 4% from its current record low of 4.2%.
While this would clearly be a positive, Pearson points out it would also add to the pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep a close eye on any signs of potential upward pressure on wages that results from the tight labour market.
Looking at details of the figures released today, major metropolitan newspaper ads fell 3.1% for the month to an average of 20,150 per week, a level 0.2% higher than for the same time last year. Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland led the falls, while gains were posted in the Northern Territory, the ACT, Tasmania and New South Wales.
Internet ads also fell slightly, recording a 0.6% decline to average 229,765 per week, though the bank notes this implies annual growth of almost 40%, up from around 26% at the end of last year.