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SYDNEY - The demand for new labour in Australia deteriorated to recession levels last month, with the number of job advertisements falling for an eighth straight month, a survey has found.
According to ANZ Banking Group's monthly survey, the number of job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet fell by 9.7 per cent last month to an average of 190,661 a week.
Job advertisements were 29.9 per cent lower than 12 months earlier, the survey found.
The number of job ads in newspapers slipped 13.9 per cent in the month. Job ads in newspapers have fallen 51.8 per cent in the 12 months to December, the weakest annual rate of growth since the survey began in 1975 and worse than at any time during the 1982 and 1991 recessions.
ANZ head of Australian economics Warren Hogan said the rate of decline in job advertising intensified last month, further evidence that the demand for new labour across the economy was now at recession levels.
"A 50 per cent decline in newspaper job advertising in a year is historically consistent with economic recession within the next nine months and a rise in the unemployment rate over the following years," Hogan said.
The number of internet job ads fell by 9.5 per cent last month and were down 28.1 per cent in the 12 months to December.
- AAP