Australian job ads fall for five months, labor demand weakens further

According to data released on price markets foreign exchange platformMonday, job advertisements in Australia fell for the fifth consecutive month in June as labor demand continued to weaken in the face of high interest rates and economic slowdown.

Data from the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and job search website Indeed showed that job ads in June fell by 2.2% compared to May, with May's decline revised to 1.9%. Job advertisements in the second quarter decreased by 7.1% compared to the first quarter, which saw a decline of 3.0%.

Compared to the same period last year, job advertisements decreased by 17.6%, but they were still 17.8% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

"The pace of decline in ANZ-Indeed Australian job advertisements has accelerated," said Madeline Dunk, an economist at ANZ. "We are seeing similar trends in other parts of the labor market, with indicators softening from strong levels."

"Nevertheless, we expect the unemployment rate to rise only slightly to 4.3%."

The data indicated that the decline in job advertisements in June was mainly due to reduced demand for cleaners, skilled workers, and food service personnel.

The slowdown in the labor market is one of the reasons why the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has kept interest rates unchanged at 4.35% for five consecutive meetings, but with inflation continuing to exceed expectations, the market predicts a 65% chance of an RBA rate hike in August.

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