Job advertisements have fallen for the fifth consecutive month as investment in the mining and resources sector continues to slow.
The number of job ads posted on the internet and published in newspapers fell 1.1 per cent in July, seasonally adjusted, the latest ANZ Job Ads Survey found.
Job ads are 18.6 per cent lower than at the same time a year ago.
ANZ chief economist Ivan Colhoun says the survey shows that employment growth in Australia is slowing.
"The continuing trend decline in advertising is consistent, unfortunately, with a further modest rise in the unemployment rate over coming months," he said.
"Job advertising in Western Australia is now nearly 45 per cent below the levels of a year ago, consistent with weaker demand for labour in the mining sector."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force data for July on Thursday.
The median forecast from an AAP survey of 11 economists is for the unemployment rate to rise to 5.8 per cent in the month, from 5.7 per cent in June.
Mr Colhoun said the July figures in the ANZ job ads survey were affected by a structural change in the employment advertising market.
"MyCareer, the job search site of the Fairfax Group, moved to free job advertising," he said.
"This had a noticeable effect on newspaper job advertisements in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers in the month and contributed to large seasonally-adjusted declines in newspaper advertising in both NSW and Victoria."
The number of job ads on the internet were down 0.9 per cent in July, in seasonally-adjusted terms, while those placed in newspapers fell 6.8 per cent.
Internet job advertising now accounts for 95 per cent of employment ads in the ANZ survey.
