Australian job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet rose for a third straight month in August to hit a 17-month high, offering hope that a recent spike in unemployment might prove temporary.
A survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group showed total job advertisements rose 1.5 percent to 135,569 per week on average in August. That was the highest average since March last year. July ads were revised up to show an increase of 0.5 percent while ads were 7.7 percent higher than in August last year.
Ads on the internet rose 1.5 percent in August, while those in newspapers showed a rare increase of 1.8 percent. "Recent trends in job advertising are consistent with a gradual turnaround in the labour market," said ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan. "Importantly, these developments appear to jar with the surprise jump in July's unemployment rate to 6.4 percent and suggest recent labour market conditions are steadily improving," he added.
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