Australian Job Advertisements Increase 2.5% in August, ANZ-Indeed Data Shows

Australian job advertisements increased for the fourth consecutive month in August, pointing to continued resilience in labour demand despite elevated borrowing costs.

Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Indeed showed that job ads rose 2.5% from July, following a 1.9% increase in the previous month. Compared with a year earlier, advertisements were up 7.8% and remained 21.4% above their decade-long average.

The increase was partly supported by seasonal hiring ahead of Christmas, particularly in retail and food-service roles. At the same time, technology-related job advertisements continued to decline, with demand for software development, data and analytics roles easing modestly.

ANZ senior economist Jasmine Zheng said economic momentum is expected to weaken in the coming months as higher interest rates continue to limit demand. ANZ expects job advertisements to gradually decline, although the resilience of the data suggests any increase in unemployment could remain modest.