Job advertisements have fallen in May, according to a survey made by the ANZ Bank, which reflects a still weak economic environment and new jobs have yet to be created.

The ANZ Bank said in a report emailed to IBTimes.com.au, total job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers decreased by 6.5 percent in May compared to the 8.3 percent recorded a year earlier.

It said newspaper job ads fell by 2.7 percent, while internet job advertising declined by 6.6 percent. Newspaper advertising has now fallen for three consecutive months, while internet advertising has fallen for two consecutive months.

In trend terms, total job ads fell by 0.5 percent in May with the annual growth rate slowing to 13.5 percent.

ANZ Chief Economist Warren Hogan said: "This is the first time we have seen two consecutive months of negative job advertising since July 2009. The slowing in job advertisement growth in 2011 thus far has been broadly in line with slowing in employment growth."

"The annual rate of growth of job ads has slowed over the past six months and is now just 8.5 percent above year ago levels. Newspaper ads are 5.2 percent lower than a year ago. We have seen many monthly economic indicators impacted by seasonal factors related to ANZAC day and Easter falling closely together this year. We suspect the recent dip in job advertising could be overstated because of this," he said.

ANZ Bank's economists had estimated that the recent trends in the job ads series indicate a stable labour market for the next three to six months or so with unemployment likely to hover around 4.75 percent to 5 percent.

The Bank's analysts further noted that positive growth is still seen for the labour market segment later in the year as capital investment builds up.

ANZ is forecasting an increase of 14,000 jobs in May which we expect will leave the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent.