Australia's labour market showed ongoing signs of distress in June as employers continued sharply scaling back job advertising, but the slowdown is yet to translate into concerted job shedding. Employers instead appear to be finding ways to retain staff, hopeful that an upturn in the economy, which has so far avoided technical recession, isn't far off.
Having also confronted skilled labour scarcity earlier this decade, businesses appear determined to keep a hold on trained staff. The total number of job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet fell 6.7% in seasonally adjusted terms in June from May to an average of 127,346 ads per week, its lowest level since August 2004, an ANZ Bank survey showed.
Job advertising weakened at a record pace over the year to June, falling 51.4%, ANZ said.