Australia: Job Advertisements plummets 0.9% in February - ANZ

ANZ analysis team points out that the Australia’s ANZ Job Advertisements fell 0.9% in February, down 4.3% over the year and marking its fourth monthly decline in a row.

Key Quotes

“In trend terms, job ads fell by 0.7% m/m and 2.8% on a yearly basis.”

“ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:

“The labour market has been a key source of strength for the Australian economy over the past year, with the strong gain in jobs and declining unemployment rate providing a material offset to the impact of lower house prices.

The year ahead looks to be more challenging on the employment front, with ANZ’s Australian Job Ads series declining for the fourth month in a row. After a strong start to 2018, job ads have been on a virtually uninterrupted downtrend, with only three monthly gains over the past 12 months. The 4.3% annual decline is the largest since February 2014.”