Australian Job ads rebound in July

The ANZ Australian Job Advertisements rebounded in July. On a seasonally adjusted basis, job ads rose 1.5 percent, almost reversing the drop of 1.7 percent seen in the prior month. On a year-on-year basis, growth rose to 7.3 percent in July. In terms of trend, job ads dropped 0.2 percent sequentially in July, the first monthly decline in almost four years. There has been an evident deceleration in sequential trend growth since February this year.

The softness seen in June did not continue in July; however, reflecting the plateau in the level of job ads since the beginning of the year, the monthly trend has weakened considerably. In terms of trend, average monthly growth decelerated from 0.8 percent in the first quarter to 0.2 percent in the second quarter.

“That said, other labour market indicators offer a contrasting picture. Business conditions, while down from record levels, remain well above long term averages. Capacity utilization and profitability also remain at high levels. As such we expect employment growth to continue at a pace consistent with a gradual decrease in the unemployment rate”, stated David Plank, ANZ’S Head of Australian Economics.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was slightly bearish at -68.6114, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 81.0641. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex