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Staff Reporter
Australian labour demand has remained relatively solid, highlighting the growing strength of the economy.
According to ANZ’s latest job advertisement series, total job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers increased by 2.4 per cent in January to be 40.5 per cent higher than in January 2010.
This is the twelfth consecutive monthly rise in total job advertisements and the highest annual growth rate recorded since the inclusion of internet job advertisements into the series in July 2000.
The previous peak of 40.4 per cent annual growth in May 2007 was a time of particular tightness in the labour market.
Speaking about the results, head of economics and property research Ivan Colhoun said the recent monthly rise was a healthy result and suggests Australian labour demand remained reasonably solid in the latter months of 2010 in spite of some patchiness in a number of sectors of the economy.
“ANZ forecasts a 35,000 increase in employment in January, which would leave the official unemployment rate stable,” he said.
Mr Colhoun said the stable unemployment rate would encourage the Reserve Bank to leave rates on hold for the foreseeable future.
“ANZ expects that the RBA will leave interest rates unchanged until Q3 of this year.”
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