Australian internet job index rises 3.9pc in Aug

CANBERRA: Australia's Internet Vacancies Index rose 3.9 percent in seasonal terms in August while in trend terms it dropped 0.6 to 91.3, standing 4.7 percent higher than a year earlier, the employment department said on Wednesday.

The department said the internet index, based on 233,100 vacancies at four large internet recruiting sites, recorded rises in four of the eight occupational groups.

The biggest falls were for labourers, down 2.1 percent, followed by managers, down 1.4 percent and professionals, down 1.3 percent. The main rises were for community/personal service workers, up 0.8 percent and clerical/administrative workers, up 0.2 percent.

Personal service positions were up 11.6 percent compared to August last year, while managerial jobs were up 2.9 percent and machinery/driver positions has rocketed by 13.2 percent.

The department said its skilled vacancy index for September, based on 1,500 newspaper job ads, fell 2.7 percent in trend terms to 34.7, and was down 23.0 percent annually, in part because employers were shifting to online advertising.

Copyright Reuters, 2011