ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads rose by 0.4% month on month in March, following a 1.3% decline in February. Trend analysis indicates a slight decrease of 0.1% month on month. Although there has been a yearly decrease of 7.9%, the levels have stabilized between 114 and 117 over the past seven months.
ANZ Economist, Aaron Luk, commented, "ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads rose by a modest 0.4 per cent month on month in March. The series has remained mostly steady for the last seven months and continues to track above its long-run average." Despite a 4.5% decline in job vacancies reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in February, they are still above their long-term average.
In February, the labour market remained tight even with a drop in employment by 53,000, which was attributed to retirements according to quarterly data. "The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 per cent (and declined slightly in the second decimal place), while the underemployment rate dropped below 6 per cent for the first time since February 2023," Luk noted. The stability in job advertisements suggests sustained tightness in the labour market in the foreseeable future, with an expected unemployment rate peaking at 4.2% in the second quarter of 2025 before falling to 3.9% by the end of 2026.
Indeed Senior Economist, Callam Pickering, pointed out regional variations, "While Job Ads have been pretty stable in 2025, there have still been some large moves across regions and sectors. Queensland has been a big drag on Job Ads this year, offset by stronger job creation in New South Wales and Victoria." Pickering also observed changes in sectors, indicating, "Job Ads have increased considerably in retail, sales, administrative services and management this year, offsetting large declines in education and therapy roles. The tech sector has also rebounded a little in early 2025, following a rough couple of years."