Tue, 10 Sep 2013The Australian labour market is continuing to “soften”, according to banking group ANZ’s Job Advertisement Series study, as evidenced by six consecutive monthly declines in job advertising rates.

Job advertisements declined 2% month-on-month in August, standing 19% lower than in the same month in 2012, after falling 1.1% in July. Job ad volumes are now only 5% higher than at the lowest point during the global financial crisis.

However, ANZ does note that the pace of decline “appears to have moderated a little in recent months”, and suggests signs of improvement in some areas, most notably the housing market, which might help rebalance the economy away from its mining-heavy focus.

The bank also notes “anecdotal evidence suggesting business and consumer sentiment have been weighted down by uncertainty” surrounding the Federal Election campaigning ahead of last weekend’s vote, and that there is “potential for a pick-up in sentiment” now this is complete.

Click for the Global Spotlight on Australia in the March edition of Recruiter, in which a manager at technical recruiter Morson already noted pre-election uncertainty causing a drag on business confidence.