The number of job advertisements has declined for the fourth consecutive month. Western Australia takes a toll as the mining industry slows down due to falling gold prices leading to job cuts.

Job ads published in newspapers and posted on the Internet dropped 1.8 per cent in June according to the latest ANZ Job Ads Survey.

The number of job ads in June was 129,720, down from 132,036 in the previous month. In Western Australia, job ads fell 6.2 per cent from last month's 784. Jobs ads also dropped by 7.7 per cent in May.

ANZ chief economist Ivan Colhoun says the decreased in Western Australia's job ads were due to continuous cost-cutting measures and revenue forecast downgrades of mining companies like Newcrest Mining, Peabody Energy and Glencore Xstrata. Job cuts have been announced in the last few months due to falling commodity prices.

Western Australia is now experiencing the sharpest decline in the number of job ads in newspapers than in any state in Australia. Today's job ads are 50 per cent lower than 2012 says the ANZ director. Western Australia received the most blows due to a fading investment in the mining sector along with the slump in commodity prices associated with China's weak economy. China is Australia's biggest partner in trade.

The declining job ad trend has been treated as a reliable indicator of rising unemployment rates and low interest rates. Cohoun says if job ads continue to decline, the Reserve Bank of Australia may reduce interest rates further in the coming months.

ANZ expects the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates in November of this year. The bank's economists also view the balance of risks to move further with lower interest rates in 2014. This does not withstand the fact that the weakening Australian dollar helps boost the Australian economy particularly export returns.

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