ANZ has released its December 2011 quarterly report into job advertisements, finding that the total number of advertised positions has fallen by a total of 2.6 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

 

The fall was driven by a 0.9 per cent decline in Internet classifieds in December when compared to the previous month, driving a 1.1 per cent overall drop for the month. 

 

The notable rise in newspaper job advertisements in December was driven largely by an exceptionally strong rise in job advertising in the Northern Territory. Excluding the Northern Territory, newspaper job advertisements rose 0.8% in December, to be 12.3% lower than a year ago.

 

The drop in advertised positions is expected to reflect a rise in unemployment, with figures tipped to show a slight increase in official unemployment rates.

 

“ANZ expects seasonally adjusted employment to fall by 2,000 and the unemployment rate to rise to 5.4%. Lower than usual seasonal hiring, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, is expected to more than offset continued strong labour demand in mining and infrastructure related projects,” said ANZ Head of Australian Economics Katie Dean.

 

"The total number of job advertisements fell in December in seasonally adjusted terms. This however, reflected quite divergent patterns between internet and newspaper job advertising, with internet job advertising falling while newspaper job advertising rose sharply. This, the second consecutive monthly rise in newspaper job advertising, needs to be watched closely, as newspaper job advertising often leads developments in overall job advertising (and therefore employment growth)," Ms Dean said.

 

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