The Economy: Job Ads Solid, Especially On The Net
Another strong month for job ads according to the ANZ's survey for March, but the reality is that it was a solid month for jobs advertised on the net.
Newspaper ads were soft, rising 0.2% and continuing the less than solid trend seen for most of the past couple of years.
Internet job ads rose 1.4% in March and were the main driver behind the 1.3% overall rise in job ads to 195,913.
That was up from the downwardly revised 1.1% growth seen in February and means job ads are now just over 19% above where they were a year ago.
But they are still 30% under the all time monthly peak of 275,000 jobs seen in April 2008 as the GFC was starting to crunch the financial system and slow economies.
"Job advertising continued to strengthen in March, suggesting the Australian economy continues to create jobs in spite of the somewhat diverse rates of economic growth by region and industry sector," said ANZ Head of Australian economics and property research Ivan Colhoun.
"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," he said.
Analysts say the news points to a strong jobs report for last month from the