The ANZ Job Ad Series is reporting a cooling in employment growth

The ANZ Job Ad Series is reporting a cooling in employment growth, but says this doesn’t mean labour market conditions are easing.

According to the series, the total number of jobs advertised in major newspapers and on the internet rose by 0.3 per cent in September, to an average of 184,563 per week.

The total number of ads was 20.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.

In newspapers only, the number of ads fell by 0.2 per cent to an average of 19,770 per week.

There were falls in Tasmania (-5.1%), South Australia (-2.2%), New South Wales (-1.0%) and Western Australia (-0.6%), while the Northern Territory ( 9.9%) Queensland ( 1.6%) and Victoria ( 0.3%) all saw their job ads rise.

The ANZ’s head of Australian economics, Tony Pearson, says the composite series of ads (both print and online) continues to be the best overall guide to the demand for labour.

He says cooling in employment growth will continue throughout the second half of 2006.

But this doesn’t mean that labour market conditions are easing, rather, it suggests that labour market conditions will remain tight, but will not tighten further in the near future.