Job advertisements in Australia rose by 4.7% in April 2021 on a seasonally adjusted basis when compared to March 2021, according to data from ANZ Bank. This was the 11th straight monthly gain, signalling strong labour demand growth has continued past the end of the JobKeeper programme, Australia’s Covid-19 stimulus package.

Job ads are also up 27.8% on its pre-pandemic level from January 2020. The total number of job ads in April stood at 196,612.

ANZ Senior Economist, Catherine Birch said, “Businesses looking to hire new workers are, on the whole, unlikely to be those that were heavily dependent on the JobKeeper payment. We estimate 100,000-150,000 people will have lost or will lose employment in the months following the end of JobKeeper.”

“But we’ve also seen almost 160,000 additional people employed over the past two months,” Birch added. “Strong labour demand should mean that many (but not all) will be able to find work elsewhere relatively quickly.”