Job ads fall to May level but still up on a year ago

Photo / APN

Job advertisements, both in newspapers and online, fell last month.

ANZ's job ads indicator fell 3.2 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in September after a flat August, and is now back to where it was in May.

The decline was driven by both a 3.6 per cent fall in internet listings, with the largest fall in Auckland, and a 1.6 per cent fall in newspaper advertising, with large falls in Auckland and Wellington offset by a bounceback in Christchurch, ANZ economist Sharon Zollner said.

However, she said the total level of job ads was still 17 per cent higher than a year ago.

"The coming months will shed light on whether the job market is simply on hold for the rugby or ... a concern about the outlook for growth in our trading partners causing local firms to shelve hiring plans."

ANZ also compiles a composite index which gives a lower weighting to internet ads and takes a three-month rolling average to smooth out some volatility. This composite index has a close inverted fit to what happens to the unemployment rate six months later. It fell 2.5 per cent in September.

Because of earlier strength it still suggested the unemployment rate would improve in the near term, Zollner said. "But this indicator is on the cusp of a turn."