Interpac Business and Migration Solutions Melbourne Australia

December 7, 2009

A 5.2 per cent rise in job ads during November suggests that employment is on the road to recovery.

While the bounce follows a fall of 1.7 per cent the month before, job ads are now 12.3 per cent above the low point reached in July this year.

ANZ's acting chief economist, Warren Hogan, says the lift in job ads reinforces recent positive data suggesting Australia's economic recovery is gathering pace.

"Total job advertisements are now well past their trough point, with four months of trend growth recorded since July," he noted in the report.

"The 8.3 per cent lift in newspaper job advertising in November is particularly encouraging, given that this sector tends to 'lead' overall job advertising trends. Eventually the improvement in job advertising will translate into higher employment growth."

There was an average of 140,658 jobs advertised in newspapers and on the internet last month, however this is 34.2 per cent lower than the number of ads this time last year.

Warren Hogan says unemployment is likely to continue creeping higher as weak jobs growth fails to keep up with a rapidly growing population.

"In the near term, we expect weak employment growth over the summer months," he cautioned.

"If total hours worked picks up pace, then more of these jobs will be full-time. But even with this jobs growth, continuing labour force growth will still see a further increase in the national unemployment rate, probably to around 6.5 per cent in mid-2010."

The official labour force figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will reveal Australia's latest unemployment rate when they are released this Thursday.

(Source from ABCNews)