Australia - ANZ job ads for February: -0.7% m/m (prior -1.8%)

Australia ANZ Job Advertisements series

Feb decline of 0.7% m/m

• Jan revised from -1.7% m/m to -1.8%

News wires reporting the numbers earlier than expected.

Down for a 4th consecutive month

biggest yearly fall in five years

ANZ:

• year ahead looks to be more challenging on the employment front
• Even with this decline the level of ANZ Job Ads is still consistent with ongoing employment growth. And other data, such as the ABS job vacancies series, are more positive
• If we combine a bunch of these data we get the ANZ Labour Market Indicator, which points to a stable rather than rising unemployment rate even in the face of weaker employment growth