Job advertisements fell last month and are pointing to an unemployment rate around 7 per cent, ANZ says.
Employment advertisements in newspapers and the internet combined fell a seasonally adjusted 0.8 per cent, on top of a 0.9 per cent decline in October.
ANZ economist Sharon Zollner said the bank's composite job ads indicator, which weights newspaper ads more heavily to give a better indicator of the unemployment rate, fell 2.4 per cent to a two-year low, reversing a 1.6 per cent rise in October.
"On a regional basis, Auckland's composite measure dropped to a three-year low, Wellington hit a new all-time low, and Canterbury increased to an eight-month high," Zollner said. "However, despite the November fall, the annual change in the three-month average has found a tentative floor, improving from minus 10 to minus 9 per cent."
The level of job advertisements continued to suggest an unemployment rate of around 7 per cent, give or take 0.2 percentage points, over the next six months, she said.
