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Staff Reporter
The Reserve Bank could be forced to lift rates sooner rather than later if the positive job data is any indication.
According to ANZ's Job Advertisements Series, the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet rose by 2.9 per cent in November, to an average of 184,580 per week. This follows a 0.7 per cent increase in September.
This is the seventh consecutive monthly rise in total job advertisements.
Job advertising is now 33.2 per cent higher than a year ago.
ANZ head of Australian economics Ivan Colhoun said the prior improvement in job advertising suggests that the Australian economy continues to create jobs.
"ANZ forecasts a 20,000 increase in employment in November and a drop in the unemployment rate to 5.2 per cent from 5.4 per cent last month," Mr Colhoun said.
"Given the outsized rise in the participation rate in October, the surprise may be that the unemployment rate improves even more significantly in the near term.
"The November labour market data effectively covers hiring decisions made prior to the RBA's latest interest rate increase. Given anecdotal reports of more moderate consumer behaviour since, it is reasonable to expect some moderation in the rate of growth of labour demand in the months ahead. Notwithstanding this, we expect the RBA will again be thinking about a further rate rise from Q2 of 2011.
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