The number of jobs advertised online dipped 0.7 per cent in May, marking a fifth consecutive month of falls recorded by the federal government’s Internet Vacancy Index.
The numbers, released by the Department of Jobs and Small Business on Wednesday, indicated a drop of 1,300 ads from the previous month and a 5.7 per cent slump in listings in the past year.
NSW ads had the biggest fall over the past 12 months, sliding 9.2 per cent, while the figures dropped 8.7 per cent in the Northern Territory and 5.5 per cent in Victoria.
The tally follows Tuesday’s release of the minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting, which reiterated that members would be closely watching jobs data as they mull the timing of further cuts to the interest rate.
The RBA this month cut the cash rate from 1.5 to 1.25 per cent – the rate’s first move in any direction since August 2016 – after another month of weak economic data, most notably an unexpected rise in April’s unemployment rate to a seasonally adjusted 5.2 per cent.
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The minutes showed that at the time of the meeting the RBA expected unemployment to decline just “a little” over the coming months but official data out last week revealed it remained steady in May.
