Australia | Apr 07 2008
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
Economists at ANZ Bank report their monthly survey into jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet has revealed that March registered a decline in the total number of jobs advertised by 0.7% to an average of 267,041 per week. This follows a 2.1% fall in February. The economists point out the total number of advertisements in March remains 20.8% higher than 12 months ago.
Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, the number of job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers dropped by 10.5% in March to an average of 17,115 per week, the economists report. This represents the lowest number since October 1993 and followed a 0.1% drop in February. In trend terms, the number of newspaper job advertisements fell by 3.0%, to be 8.7% lower than a year ago.
The weakness in newspaper job advertisements in March was reflected in every state. New South Wales (-4.7%), Victoria (-6.2%), Queensland (-6.4%), South Australia (-10%), Western Australia (-7.2%), Tasmania (-13.3%) and the Australian Capital Territory (-10.4%) all experienced falls. The Northern Territory (-31.1%) experienced its largest monthly fall on record.
In New South Wales, ANZ reports, the number of newspaper job advertisements (4,835) is the lowest since December 1983, while in Victoria (3,750) the level is at its lowest since June 1993.
Internet job advertisements bucked the overall trend and increased marginally by 0.1% in March to average 249,926 per week. In trend terms, internet job advertisements increased by 0.6% to be 24.1% higher than a year ago.
ANZ Head of Australian Economics, Tony Pearson, believes trend monthly growth, is a more reliable guide to movements in employment than the monthly headline figures. Nevertheless, Pearson concedes trend monthly growth has now been declining for four months and is at its lowest level since mid 2003. Pearson adds: “It is beginning to look as if employers’ demand for new recruits is now waning after an extended period of very strong demand for labour.”
The latter conclusion would be consistent with other indicators of economic activity which suggest domestic demand is now in the process of moderating under the weight of higher interest rates, lower share prices, and heightened concerns over decelerating global growth and global financial strains, he adds.