Following a 1.1 per cent increase in February, the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet rose by 1.3 per cent in March to an average of 195,913 advertisements per week, says ANZ, which gathers the data.

According to the ANZ Job Advertisements Series, this is the eleventh consecutive monthly rise in total job advertisements. The number of job advertisements is now 19.2 per cent higher than a year ago, broadly unchanged from last month. The annual rate of growth in job advertising remains well above its long-term trend. While it has slowed from its January 2011 peak of 42.6 per cent, this strong rate of growth reflected job advertising returning to more normal levels after being depressed in 2009. Overall, while advertising continues to strengthen, the total number of job ads remains 30.5 per cent below the all-time peak achieved in April 2008. This suggests that while labour demand is strengthening, the labour market is not yet as tight as it was during the height of the first phase of the commodity boom.

In trend terms, growth in job advertisements moderated slightly to 1.4 per cent MoM in March. This follows growth of 1.6 per cent MoM in February. Trend growth in total job ads is still well above the ten-year average rate of 0.7 per cent MoM. In annual terms, trend growth in total job advertisements has eased to 22.5 per cent in March after reaching a six year high of 36.3 per cent in September 2010 (see Table 1).

Newspaper, internet job advertisements
The number of job advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers fell by 0.4 per cent in March. This follows a sharp 4.4 per cent rise in February, which was driven predominantly by Queensland. Newspaper job ads are now 4.5 per cent lower than a year ago.

In trend terms, the number of newspaper job advertisements rose 0.3 per cent in March, but fell 3.9 per cent in YoY terms. YoY growth in the trend measure of newspaper job advertisements had been declining for ten consecutive months prior to March 2011, though much of this likely reflects the continued migration of job advertising on-line.

In March, newspaper job advertisements fell 11 per cent in Tasmania, 4.9 per cent in Western Australia, 2.9 per cent in Queensland, 1.7 per cent in New South Wales and 1 per cent in South Australia. The fall in Queensland newspaper job advertisements follows a large rise of 32.6 per cent in February. Falls in advertising in these states more than offset strong increases in newspaper job advertisements in the Northern Territory up 19.8 per cent, Victoria up 6.1 per cent and the ACT up 2.1 per cent.

The number of internet job advertisements rose 1.4 per cent MoM in March. This is an acceleration from the 0.9 per cent MoM rise recorded in February and is now equal to the ten-year average growth in this series of 0.9 per cent MoM. Internet job advertisements are 20.7 per cent higher than a year ago. In trend terms, internet job advertisements grew by 1.4 per cent MoM and 24.3 per cent YoY in March.