Australia ANZ job ads down in November; Trend firmly negative

By Sophia Rodrigues

Job ads fell for the second straight month in November, down 1.7% m/m after a 1.0% fall in October, data from ANZ showed. In y/y terms, job ads fell 12.6%, the biggest decline in six months, In trend terms, job ads have fallen each month since June 2018. ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said they expect employment growth to decline into 2020, lagging the deterioration in GDP growth over the past year. While we expect the Q3 GDP data (Wednesday 4 December) to show growth starting to gradually pick up from its low, the fact that the ANZ Job Ads figure is still falling suggests that the softness in the labour market has a way to run, she said.