Australia Job Ads Jump Most in 23 Months on Mining, ANZ Says
February 06, 2012, 2:31 PM ESTBy Michael Heath
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Australian job notices surged in January by the most in 23 months as hiring increased in the nation’s mineral-rich states, a private report showed.
Jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet jumped 6 percent last month, after a revised 0.6 percent drop in December, the biggest increase since February 2010, according to an Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. report released in Melbourne today.
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates in November and December in the first back-to-back reductions in two years, lowering the benchmark to 4.25 percent to boost demand as inflation pressure eased. Resource projects in Australia valued at A$456 billion ($490 billion), fueled by companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd., are helping cushion a slump in manufacturing and services hurt by a strong currency.
Today’s result “is being driven by acceleration in the mining regions of Australia, in Queensland and the Northern Territory in particular in recent months, confirming the awaited significant acceleration in mining investment is now beginning to boost labor demand in these states,” Ivan Colhoun, head of Australian economics and property research at ANZ Bank, said in a statement.
National vacancies advertised in newspapers fell 2.6 percent in January, and Internet notices surged 6.4 percent, today’s report showed.
--Editors: Brendan Murray, Iain Wilson
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net
