September job ads soften slightly

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 8th October 2001

Job ads are down but still running at historically strong levels according to latest figures.

The ANZ Job Ad Series for September shows the number of ads in major newspapers fell by 2.1% compared with the previous month, but was just 4.6% lower than the all time high recorded in July last year.

"Current levels of job advertising remain consistent with ongoing employment growth," the bank says.

Job ads fell 2.4% for the three main urban areas in September with Auckland recording the biggest drop of 3.6% compared with August.

Provincial centres, which are more directly exposed to the strong agricultural economy, remained fairly robust.

In Hawkes Bay the number of ads rose 3.1% compared with the previous month and was 20% higher than the same month last year.

Job ads were also higher in Otago, jumping 4.5% compared with August.

ANZ chief economist, David Drage, says as yet there has been no discernible impact from last month's US terrorist attacks on job advertising levels.

"While the potential ramifications of the terrorist attacks in the US on the world economy have purportedly unsettled business confidence, the weekly data we collect shows no noticeable change in advertising levels between the first and second half of September."

Figures also show that job advertising on the internet continues to rise. In September the number of ads rose 8.9% over the previous month and was 7.4% higher than September last year.

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