WA recorded an increase in jobs advertised on the internet and in newspapers despite a flatline in the national figure, according to a report released today.
Jobs advertised on the internet and in newspapers is on a slowing trend after the number remained the same in November compared to the previous month.
Mining states Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory bucked the trend, with increases of 10.1 per cent, 4.5 per cent in WAand 2.2 per cent respectively.
In the other states, the figures remained sluggish with falls of 2.9 per cent in New South Wales, 1.7 per cent in Victoria, 4.6 per cent in South Australia and 0.7 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory.
Tasmania posted a modest gain of 2.5 per cent month-on-month.
ANZ head of Australian economics and property research Ivan Colhoun said the figures suggested a possible growth in unemployment looking ahead.
"The negative trend in job advertisements points towards only modest employment gains for the Australian economy over coming months," he said.
"Indeed, the current trend rate of employment growth is unlikely to be fast enough to absorb the forecast growth in the labour force over coming months."
ANZ was forecasting that unemployment would rise to five per cent by mid-2012.
It would then decline as mining and infrastructure investment gained pace, Mr Colhoun said.
Jobs advertised in newspapers grew by 0.6 per cent in November, but were 15.9 per cent lower than a year ago, reflecting a growing trend for online advertisements.
Internet advertising was one per cent higher than the same time last year.
