Job advertisements in Australia decreased by 8.2% year-on-year in September 2023 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to ANZ-Indeed job ads data published on ANZ Bank.

The 8.2% decrease is a further decline from the 7.7% annual fall reported in August.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of job ads fell by 0.1% over the month. In trend terms, job ads rose 0.8% over the month in September.

ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk said, “ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads remained steady in September, falling just 0.1% month-on-month. The series has demonstrated remarkable staying power recently and has lifted 2.2% over the last three months. The Australian labour market is loosening. While things are still tight, the underemployment rate has been creeping upwards, the unemployment rate has risen to 3.7% and hours worked fell in August. This continued cooling of the labour market should help temper any future gains in job ads.”

Indeed Senior Economist, Callam Pickering said, “Over the past three months, the overall increase in job ads has been concentrated in education and healthcare, specifically therapy, doctors and nurses. Even retail has rebounded a little owing to strong Christmas hiring. Gains in these areas have offset ongoing weakness in tech and food preparation. Job ads have increased in almost half of occupational sectors over the past three months, reflecting a notable change from the broad-based declines observed earlier this year.”

ANZ Bank’s job ads data is based on information provided by the operators of the following sites: Indeed (au.indeed.com); 2018-ongoing; Workforce Australia, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (workforceaustralia.gov.au) and previous iterations; 1999-ongoing; Seek (seek.com.au); 1999-2022; and newspaper job ads; 1975-2018.