Job Ads, Business Conditons Slip Further in January

The monthly ANZ job ad series was released today showing job ads fell a seasonally adjusted -6.3% in January after falling -10% in December. Total job ads are now -33.7% lower than the same time last year.

Newspapers ads increased 12.3% in January to following a -13.5% drop in December. Newspaper ads are currently -40.7% lower than in January 2008.

Internet job ads fell -7.3% in January after a -9.8% fall in December and are now down -29.1% from a year ago.

The rise in newspaper ads should be viewed with caution, the December numbers were extremely low so a bounce was not unexpected. The health of newspaper job ads is reflected better by the year over year numbers.

Also out today the Dun and Bradstreet business expectations survey, that not surprisingly shows a deteriorating Australian business environment in 2009.

From the report, expectations for the March 2009 quarter are as follows:

The D&B index for expected sales is down 17 points to -39, with 15% of executives expecting an increase in sales and 54% expecting a decrease. The profits index is down 16 points to -47, with 12% of executives expecting profits to rise and 59% expecting a fall.

Employment expectations are unchanged at an index of -14, with 6% of executives expecting an increase in staff and 20% expecting a reduction. Capital investment expectations are down one point to an index of minus seven,with 3% of executives expecting an increase and 10% expecting to cut spending.

More news on jobs will come with the monthly abs labour force data on Thursday.