The number of jobs advertised in Australia halved in the year ending April, suggesting a sharp rise in unemployment is on the horizon.
Total job advertisements fell by 7.5 per cent in April, according to ANZ, taking the annual fall to 49.9 per cent and representing the twelfth consecutive month of decline in the past year.
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Warren Hogan, ANZ head of Australian economics, said the result suggested total unemployment in Australia would contract over the year ahead.
“There can be little doubt that these numbers are consistent with the forecast of an unemployment rate rising above 7 per cent in the next 12 to 18 months and most likely peaking at a rate above 8 per cent in this current cycle.”
ANZ’s official forecast is for unemployment to peak at around 8.25 per cent in 2010.