The number of Australian job advertisements on the Internet and in newspapers declined 3.8% month-on-month in December, following a fall of 2.8% in November. This was the 10th consecutive monthly decline and the number of job advertisements in December was the lowest since January 2010, according to the latest ANZ survey.

The number of job advertisements declined by 16% over the year. In trend terms, job advertisements declined 2.8% m/m in December.

The survey notes increased newspaper ads in Queensland and WA in December and drops in most other states.

The number of Internet job advertisements fell 3.9% in December after falling 2.8% in November. Internet job advertisements were 15.3% lower over the year.

ANZ head of Australian economics, corporate and commercial Justin Fabo says job advertising is a key barometer of economic activity and business confidence. "Its ongoing weakness suggests that conditions for a large share of Australian businesses remain challenging and the outlook uncertain."

"Without a solid pick-up in the non-mining sectors as the contribution to overall growth from mining investment shrinks through 2013, ANZ's view is that Australia's unemployment rate is set to drift higher to around 5.75% from 5.2% currently by mid to late this year," he adds. "The degree of spare capacity in the labour market, however, is already greater than the current jobless rate suggests, with labour force participation among some key working age groups falling noticeably over the past couple of years. In part, this has been because rising job losses have seen a higher share of jobseekers give up looking for work."