SEEK also published its internet job ads data for April today. The number of new job ads declined 2.2% m/m which is the third consecutive monthly decline. Some of the weakness in job ads in April may be related to the timing of Easter and ANZAC day this year. The SEEK job ads measure is now showing a slightly weaker profile than the ANZ job ads series (Figure 6).
The number of new job ads declined in every state except Tasmania in April (Figure 7). The decline in job ads in the resource-rich states of Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory continued to broadly reflect lower commodity prices (Figure 8).
The improvement in employment growth this year looks to have run a little ahead of growth in SEEK job ads (Figure 9).
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
