Job advertisements fall

A fall in the number of Australian jobs advertised on the internet fell to a 10-month low in May according to the Department of Employment. There were 153,524 (s.a.) jobs advertised in May and that was 3.1% lower than in April and only 0.2% higher than May last year. The trend measure fell by 1.0%. The ANZ’s Job Advertisement series shows annual growth of 15% although the trend has slowed from 16% a year ago to 5.0% in May. The ANZ series counts all existing advertisements carried on internet job sites, while the Department Employment measure is based on newly lodged advertisements. The numbers are being relied upon more as an indicator of employment growth given the consistent queries about the validity of recent ABS unemployment statistics.