Rise in Australia's job advertisements in October points to improvement in labour market conditions

Australia's job advertisements rose 1.0 percent m/m in October after seeing no change in the prior month. Compared to a year ago period, growth in job ads stood at 5.2 percent from 3.8 percent in the previous month.

In trend terms, job ads rose 0.4 percent m/m in October, slightly lower than the 0.5 percent m/m rise in September. Trend annual growth in job advertisements has slowed – 4.8 percent y/y compared to 11.4 percent y/y a year ago. However, it remains consistent with a gradual improvement in the labour market.

"Overall, our assessment is that the labour market will continue to improve at a gradual pace and the unemployment rate will continue to edge lower, supported by low-interest rates and still elevated business conditions," said ANZ in a report.

That said, underutilisation remains high suggesting that there remains a considerable amount of spare capacity in the labour market. High rate of underutilisation could mean that wages are unlikely to accelerate significantly in the near term.