Job advertisements in Australia decreased by 13% year-on-year in January 2024 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to ANZ-Indeed job ads data published on ANZ Bank.

ANZ-Indeed Australian job ads rose 1.7% month-on-month in January following an upward revision in December to 0.6% month-on-month from +0.1% month-on-month. In trend terms, the series fell 0.1% on a monthly basis.

The data also found that ANZ-Indeed Australian job ads fell 15.5% from the November 2022 peak but is still 39.9% higher than pre-pandemic levels (February 2020).

ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk, said, “ANZ-Indeed job ads has risen 2.3% over the past two months, following a steady decline over the previous 12 months. This stabilisation at a still-elevated level highlights the labour market’s resilience.”

“There is no doubt the labour market is cooling, but we do not expect to see a significant downturn anytime soon,” Dunk said. “NAB’s (National Australia Bank) business survey showed 79.9% of businesses reported labour as a constraint on their output in Q4, and the unemployment rate remains historically low at 3.9%, despite a pick-up over the past few months. We expect the unemployment rate to rise modestly to 4.2% by the end of the year.”

Indeed Senior Economist, Callam Pickering said, “In January, the increase in ANZ-Indeed job ads was driven primarily by Victoria, which offset weakness in New South Wales and Queensland. That said, the overall decline in postings over the past year remains concentrated in New South Wales and Victoria.”

“The biggest contributors to January’s gain came from management and software development. However, software development also made the biggest subtraction from annual growth, with January’s increase ending 10 consecutive monthly declines. Overall, job ads in 86% of occupation groups are down over the year,” Pickering added.