Jobless Ads Fall as Unemployment Rate Rise

According to a privately survey, for the last five months including July, advertisements for jobs have declined to as much as 19% compared to last year.

The job series ads from the ANZ, which is regarded as a reliable indicator for employment rates, dropped to 1.1% for the last month, following a 1.6% fall in June, as well. Newspaper ads that are already affected by recent structural changes have been down to 6.8%, while online ads marked a slight drop at 0.9%. The job ads started declining in February, when it dipped to 8% lower compared to last year.

According to the chief economist at the ANZ, “The continuing trend decline in advertising is consistent, unfortunately, with a further modest rise in the unemployment rate over coming months.” The decline is felt across the board, except for certain industries in the Northern Territory.

“The improvement in trend newspaper job advertising has been most notable in South Australia, Queensland, NSW and ACT.”

“In fact, newspaper job advertising in South Australia modestly increased in trend terms in July for the first time since May last year. Trends in newspaper job advertising in Victoria and Western Australia remained the weakest of all states.”

These numbers came out some two days before the jobless rates for the previous month would be released by the Bureau of Statistics. Many economists are eyeing a rise in the unemployment rate to 5.8%, from 5.7%, even with additional jobs added. The rise is attributed to the changes and challenges in the economy, that also affects mining investments.

The government has, in fact, updated its jobless rate in preparing the budget for the next two years last week.