NO.080

JOB ADVERTISEMENTS INDICATE CONTINUING STRONG EMPLOYMENT GROWTH

Data from the ANZ Bank job advertisements series released today show the

number of newspaper job advertisements increased by 4.0 per cent in August

to an average of 22,463 per week. Newspaper jobs ads are now 6.2% higher

than in August 2003.

According to ANZs Chief Economist Karen Pringle, todays data suggest

that,

“…employment growth is likely to average 20-25,000 per

month on average over the next few months. This pace of jobs growth would

be sufficient to push the unemployment rate below its current low level

of 5.7%…”

Over 1.3 million new jobs have been created under the Coalition since 1996,

and the unemployment rate has fallen from 8.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

Over the last 12 months the Government has created more than four times

the number of full time jobs than were created in the last six years under

Labor.

Further, the unemployment rate has now been below 6 per cent for 11 consecutive

months, the longest period below 6 per cent since the ABS started collecting

monthly data in February 1978.

Labour market conditions are currently the strongest sustained in over

26 years which is the payoff from the wide range of macroeconomic and microeconomic

reforms implemented by the Coalition Government.

6 September 2004