"Other leading indicators of labour demand such as business conditions, profitability and capacity utilisation also point to some trend improvement"
- Warren Hogan, chief economist at ANZ
The Australian job market improved in September with labour demand gradually recovering, as job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet surged for a fourth consecutive month in August to reach the highest level in more than one-and-a-half year. Total job advertisements increased as much as 0.9% to 137,087 per week on average. August reading was also revised upwards to show a gain of 1.6%, while ads were 7.9% higher compared to September last year. Ads on the Internet inched higher 1.1%, whereas those in newspapers declined 3.5%.
Official employment figures for August showed a surge in job growth in Australia, with a net 121,000 jobs added over the month, the highest in any month since the data collection began. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is due to release September figures on 9 October, which economists project will indicate a slight backlash. The unemployment rate is expected to inch up from 6.1% to 6.2%, and a net -30,000 jobs are likely to have been shed over the month after an increase of 121,000 in the previous months. ANZ expect the unemployment rate to stabilize at just above 6% in the next few quarters before falling gradually from there.
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