The number of jobs advertised in Australia rose in January, in a sign the slowdown in vacancies around the country over the past six months is coming to an end.
ANZ's latest survey of job advertisements shows that the number of positions advertised in Australia jumped 6.2 per cent in January, more than reversing December's 2.7 per cent fall.
ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said this was encouraging and a possible sign that a recent slowdown in job vacancies has come to an end.
"The bounce in January is in line with ongoing strength in business conditions, capacity utilisation and other surveys of employment conditions," Mr Plank said.
"Taken together, there is some evidence that the slowdown in the trend we saw in the second half of last year may reverse in the coming months."
However, he warned that it could be too early to tell if there will be a sustained rebound.
On an annual basis, job ads were up 13.8 per cent in January, an improvement on December's 11.4 per cent annual rise.
Mr Plank said the data lines up with the Reserve Bank of Australia's recent comments around strong gains in employment across all states.
The market would now eagerly wait official fourth-quarter wage figures, which are due out later in February, he said.
Official employment figures in December reported a 5.5 per cent increase in unemployment - a surprising lift from the prior month's 5.4 per cent jobless rate.
But the nation did achieve a record-equalling 15th consecutive month of increasing job numbers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
