Jobs ads show strength

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Friday 10th August 2001

An improvement in the number of advertised jobs has further eroded the possibility of an interest rate cut next week.

The ANZ Job Ads survey for July shows that the number of newspaper job advertisements grew by 2.2% over the previous month and was 7.8% higher than a year earlier.

Commenting on the result Deutsche Bank economist, Darren Gibbs, says the continued strength in job ads suggests that the stronger than expected momentum in the labour market during the June quarter looks likely to have continued into the third quarter.

"With population growth still weak and labour force participation rates moving close to cyclical highs, even moderate rates of employment growth compared to that recorded in Q2 would likely push the unemployment rate lower.

"We expect the unemployment rate to decline to 5% in Q3 and a further decline to below 5% by year-end seems entirely plausible."

Official Government figures released Thursday put unemployment at 5.2%, the lowest level for 13 years.

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