Australia job ads fall 2.8% in February, ANZ, Indeed data shows

FILE PHOTO: Workers cast shadows as they stroll among the office towers Sydney’s Barangaroo business district in Australia’s largest city, May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian job advertisements resumed their decline in February after two months of gain, data showed on Monday, adding to signs that the labour market is loosening as high interest rates slow the economy.

Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed showed job ads fell 2.8% in February from January, when they gained by an upwardly revised 3.4%.

Ads were down 12.4% from the same month a year earlier, but remained 37.8% higher than February 2020 before the first anti-pandemic lockdowns.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised interest rates by 425 basis points since May 2022 to 4.35% to tame inflation, though signs of loosening in the labour market – including fewer hours worked and deeper underutilisation – have added to growing market conviction that rates have peaked.

“The downward movement in Job Ads suggests there is scope for the unemployment rate to rise further, as do recent changes in labour market flows,” said ANZ economist Madeline Dunk.

“That said, we think most of the near-term adjustment in the labour market will be via a fall in hours worked rather than employment.”

The data showed the biggest contributors to February’s decline were from the technology, food preparation and personal care sectors.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)