Recruitment hit a new low in February as employers freeze hire and start implementing redundancy and retrenchment programs. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is planning to release unemployment figures for February. According to the report, economists are expecting the unemployment rate to rise from 4.8 percent in January to 5%. This would be the highest jobless rate since April 2006.

Job losses are estimated at 20,000 jobs for February.

Job Ads Reflect Drop in Employment

The decrease in job ad placement is an indicator of the hiring trends for the year. According to ANZ bank, which collects data on job advertising, the year-on-year decline for ad placement has dropped by 40%

In February alone, newspaper ads plummeted by 25.2%. The decline is 55.4% compared to the same period last year. Online job advertising is also experiencing a significant corrosion with a decrease of 9.4% in February, which makes it 38.6% lower than last year’s figures.

The slump is said to be the largest monthly decline since the combined internet and newspaper survey started in 1999. ”The annual rate of decline, at 40%, is also the worst outcome on this record,” says ANZ economist Warren Hogan

According to Hogan: “The trends in job advertising in Australia suggest a substantial rise in unemployment is likely.” ANZ has raised its unemployment rate forecast to 6.5% by the end of 2009 and to 7.5% by mid-2010.

The trend is consistent across the nation with all states experiencing a double-digit contraction of newspaper advertising. West Australia represents the biggest drop with a collapse of 29.8% in ad spending. ACT comes in second with 27.4%, Queensland thirds with 26.5%. Only Victoria felt the recession impact the least with only an 18.3% drop.

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