Job ads on rise but improvement tipped to slow

THE number of job advertisements across Australia have lifted for a fifth straight month as labour market conditions improve, but economists say the pace of improvement is expected to ease.

ANZ’s latest jobs ads survey shows that the number of ads in newspapers and online rose 1.5 per cent in July, adding to June’s 2.7 per cent increase.

Job ad numbers are up 6.5 per cent since the start of the year, while July’s reading is 12.8 per cent better than a year ago. ANZ’s head of Australian economics David Plank says recent figures have shown the labour market has improved, which is consistent with improved business conditions, profitability and capacity utilisation.

The strength in full-time employment and a lift in the aggregate number of hours worked are encouraging and have helped to boost consumer confidence, Mr Plank said.

“That said, several challenges remain, and we expect the pace of improvement to moderate over the medium term,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mr Plank said the level of under-utilisation in businesses — essentially workers getting fewer hours than they would like — was still high and expected to fall only gradually.

Also, economic growth over the next few years was likely to be less labour-intensive as housing construction slowed and a greater contribution was made by the labour-light LNG export sector.