Jobs

Last month’s Australian job ads averaged 125,207 per week, down from 260,000 a year ago. Ad numbers may be stabilising, indicating that business may not be cutting hiring intentions as quickly as earlier in 2009.

Last month’s internet job ads averaged 128,567 per week, down from over 260,000 a year ago. The ongoing weakness in job ads suggests that falling employment levels will be the key driver of rising unemployment over the year ahead.

A large number of full-time jobs have been lost in Australia recently, replaced by a similar number of part-time jobs. Car makers are struggling. Prospects for job losses are not universally gloomy, however, as the country’s exports from its energy and minerals sector continue to perform well.

Australia is suffering the worst annual decline in advertised jobs since figures were first compiled in 1999, suggesting a substantial rise in unemployment is likely. Internet advertising has fallen almost forty percent in one year.

Australia has recorded the weakest newspaper job advertising figures since December 1982, including the recession of 1991. The number of jobs advertised, which had already been falling, has gone into a steeper decline.

The total number of job ads in Australia is down almost 19 percent in one year. Newspaper ads were particularly badly hurt by the deteriorating economy, falling almost 43 percent in the last year. Internet job ads are down by more than 20 percent in the past six months.

Australia lost 15,400 full-time jobs in September, the worst performance in two years. With demand slowing, Australian businesses have been cutting employee numbers and the unemployment rate has risen to 4.3%.

Australia gained 14,600 jobs in August, evenly split between full-time and part-time jobs. The mining states of Queensland and Western Australia gained over 10,000 jobs each, while New South Wales lost 16,200 jobs.

Australian jobs ads on the web and in major newspapers fell 0.3 percent in July to a weekly average of 261,936. This follows a 3.0 percent decrease in June. Despite the recent declines, total job ads in Australia are still 5.5 percent up on a year ago.

The total number of Australian jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet increased by 0.7 percent in November to a weekly average of 256,356 per week. This follows a 2.7 percent rise in October. The total number of ads is 36.8 percent higher than a year ago.