ANZ released their monthly Job Advertisement series this morning, and it provides an interesting picture going into Thursday’s official job figures release from the ABS. Does it provide some confirmation that maybe the RBA was right to hold rates for a little longer as they are still cautious regarding a wage spiral? Here are the key points:
- The number of job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers rose 1.0% m/m in March, following solid rises in January and February. Total job advertisements were 2.8% higher than in March 2011 and are now at the highest level since November 2008.
- The rise in job advertising was driven by a 1.0% rise in internet job advertisements, which were 4.1% higher than a year ago.
- Newspaper job ads fell 0.6% m/m in March, to be 22.0% below levels from one year ago.
- In trend terms, total job ads rose by 2.0% m/m in March to be 3.3% higher than a year earlier. Trend growth in job advertising has now been positive since November 2011.
The most recent Bloomberg survey has the unemployment rate on Thursday rising to 5.3% from 5.2% – still around the RBA’s preferred level for unemployment stability. Here’s the change in the unemployment rate since 2006:
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The full report:
120410 – ANZ Job Ads March 2012