Financial markets are usually very interested in job ads surveys, especially those surveys which bear a good relationship over time to the official jobs numbers or indeed the RBA’s cash rate (see below).
ANZ’s most recent monthly job ads survey was released this week and it showed total ads down 0.8% (seasonally adjusted) in April but up 6.3% over the year. The comparable March figures were +0.1% and +10.0% respectively. Internet ads were down 1.6% for the month (+8.7% for the year) while newspaper ads rose 6.9% (-10.7% for the year). Advertising through newspapers now represents less than 2% of total ads and is now close to irrelevant from a sampling point of view.
Commonwealth Bank viewed the latest figures as a sign “momentum is waning” but it also notes how ANZ’s survey is in contrast to employment components of NAB’s business survey. The mention of the contrast suggests Commonwealth is wary of taking too firm a view without further evidence.
ANZ also noted how job ads had been “broadly flat” for the last six months, something which may have come from a softer domestic economy but as their chief of Australian Economics, Felicity Emmett said, ”[it] follows a period of substantial growth in employment, so some modest slowdown should probably not be surprising.”
