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."