Australian job advertisements fall again in January

Australia's job advertising continued to decline in January, following a 0.8 percent fall in the month before, the latest ANZ job advertisements survey showed on Monday. The ANZ Bank monthly survey found the total number of job advertisements on the Internet and in the major newspapers fell by 0.3 percent in January and 8.9 percent over the year to January. ANZ Chief Economist (Australia) Ivan Colhoun said there had been a "notable stabilization in the rate of deterioration" in labor demand over the past six month. "While none of the measures of job advertising/vacancies have shown a convincing upward trend at this stage, they are clearly not falling at the sharp pace seen earlier," he said in a statement. "This suggests that overall conditions in the labor market are also likely to stabilize in coming months." Colhoun said the unemployment rate is expected to peak between 5.75 percent and 6.0 percent and remain in that range for some time. "Recent developments in job advertising, as well as in other key economic indicators, suggest the outlook for the Australian economy is becoming more positive," he said. "Low interest rates are boosting the interest-rate sensitive sectors of the economy, with house prices and building approvals picking up strongly."