SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet dipped slightly in April and annual growth slowed in a possible sign the labour market was cooling a little.
A survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group out on Monday showed total job advertisements eased 0.2 percent in April, from March when they dipped 0.1 percent.
The average total number of ads per week was 176,418 in April, up 8.6 percent compared to a year ago. The annual pace slowed from 11.5 percent in March.
"While the growth in job ads has paused, the level of job ads is high and is consistent with ongoing employment growth," said David Plank, ANZ's head of Australian economics.
"As well, business conditions and profitability remain well above their long term average," he added.
A separate survey of businesses out on Monday showed conditions improved to a record-matching peak in April, with sales, profits and employment all rising.
While offiical measures of employment surged past all expectations last year, there has been some slowdown in recent months.
"We remain optimistic about the outlook for employment growth, even if we get some further adjustment after last year’s strength," added Plank.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
