Job ad drop suggests rising unemployment

Newspaper job advertisment listings fell 5.9 per cent last month. Photo / NZH

Latest ANZ New Zealand job ads data suggests unemployment is on the rise.

The data, which covers newspaper and internet ads, showed job ads fell 2.9 per cent in September, following a 0.6 per cent rise in August, the bank said.

The monthly fall was driven by both a 2.4 per cent fall in internet job advertisements, and a 5.9 per cent fall in newspaper listings, seasonally adjusted.

The bank's composite total, which weights newspaper ads more heavily to give a better indicator for the unemployment rate, fell 4.0 per cent.

"This continues to suggest the unemployment rate will rise towards 7 per cent over the next 6 months," ANZ said in a summary of the data.

The bank said anecdotes of job losses in the tradeable sector were starting to accumulate.

"The trend for job ads is still flat, but it is notable that total job ads in September were 6.0 per cent below their July 2011 post-recession peak, seasonally adjusted," the bank said.

Canterbury job ads continued to trend higher, while other regions remained flat to falling, ANZ said.

New Zealand's unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent in the June quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand data.