Australia’s job advertisements decline in August - ANZ

The Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) revealed that job advertisements in Australia declined a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent m-o-m in August to 195,995, after dropping 1.3 percent m-o-m in July (revised from a fall of 0.5 percent m-o-m). That marked the second straight month of decrease and the lowest number of job ads since April, which, however, still was more than a quarter above its pre-pandemic level.

The annual pace of job ads growth decelerated to 78.9 percent in August from 97.4 percent in the prior month.

“Job Ads has been more resilient this time around: the cumulative 3.7 percent fall over the past two months was miniscule compared with the 64 percent plunge last year during the national lockdown," noted ANZ Senior Economist, Catherine Birch. "This is in line with other key indicators, such as consumer confidence, which has fallen but is still well above the lows of 2020. Newly lodged job ads are also holding up better… Admittedly, it is likely that ANZ Job Ads will decline further over coming months, and we expect sizeable employment losses in locked down areas, with the national unemployment rate to lift back above 5 per cent. But given the momentum going into lockdowns, policy support and signs that activity should rebound once restrictions ease, we think the setback will be temporary."