SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian job advertisements were steady in August, highlighting a still resilient labour market amid lower interest rates, while a bounce in retail hiring was expected to persist into coming months.
Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed on Monday showed the number of job ads inched up 0.1% in August from July, when they dropped by a upwardly revised 0.6%.
Job ads in August were 1.9% higher than a year earlier, and remained 15.1% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
“The ongoing resilience in Job Ads supports our view that the unemployment rate is likely to track broadly sideways,” said Madeline Dunk, ANZ economist.
“We expect just one more 25bp rate cut from the RBA in November.”
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to 3.6% for a third time in August as inflation cooled and unemployment moved higher. However, fears of a downturn in the labour market have proved to be overblown as the latest data showed the jobless rate edged down from a 3-1/2 year high.
Callam Pickering, Indeed senior economist, said job ads in education, which had been a large drag on jobs growth this year, rebounded sharply in August.
“Both retail and food preparation & service opportunities also grew strongly, reflecting early Christmas hiring. Retail hiring will ramp up even further as we approach ‘Black Friday’ sales,” said Pickering.
(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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