Job ads shrink again for May

Photo / Richard Robinson

Job advertisements have fallen for the second consecutive month for the first time in almost two years, with both newspaper and online ads performing poorly, a survey shows.

Total job ads on the internet and in newspapers fell 6.5 per cent in May compared with April, but were up 8.3 per cent compared with May 2010, the ANZ job advertisements survey showed yesterday.

Job advertising in April was downwardly revised to a monthly fall of 0.4 per cent.

It is the first time the survey has recorded two consecutive months of negative job advertising since July 2009, says ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan.

"The slowing in job advertisement growth in 2011 thus far has been broadly in line with slowing in employment growth."

Hogan said the recent fall in job advertising could be overstated because of seasonal factors related to the extended Anzac Day and Easter holiday.

Newspaper job ads fell 2.7 per cent in May, and internet job advertising dropped 6.6 per cent.

Newspaper ads have now fallen for three consecutive months, while internet ads have declined for two straight months, ANZ said.

Recent trends in the job ads series indicated a stable labour market for the next three to six months, with unemployment likely to hover around 4.75 to 5 per cent, Hogan said.

Many economists believe "full employment" is reached when unemployment falls to about 5 per cent - a level where wage-driven inflation starts to build up owing to the mismatch between supply and demand.

The ANZ survey comes ahead of employment figures due on Thursday from the Bureau of Statistics.

Arab Bank Australia treasury dealer David Scutt said the ANZ survey was worrying and hinted that the once robust labour market was cooling.

"Seasonal influences or not ... this survey and the official statistical release have surprised on the downside over the past month.
Given the good track record this release has had in recent times, the data has to raise question-marks over the labour market tightness cited by many economic commentators."

- AAP