WELLINGTON: Job advertisements in New Zealand fell for the second straight month in December, an ANZ bank survey showed on Thursday, but ongoing annual gains reflected a broadly stronger economy.
Vacancies advertised online or in newspapers fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent last month, according to the ANZ monthly survey, following a downwardly revised 2.5 percent slide in November.
Despite the monthly fall, the number of advertisements were 4.7 percent higher compared with a year ago.
"While we're seeing oscillating results for job ads from month to month, the latest level of job advertising and broad trends indicate that the unemployment rate will modestly decline over the next two quarters," ANZ economist Steve Edwards said in a statement.
The fall in December was driven by a 1.5 percent slide in internet advertising, while newspaper job adverts rose 4.7 percent, recovering from a hefty slide in November.
The composite index, which gives more weighting to newspaper advertisements than internet adverts, which can appear on multiple sites, edged up 0.5 percent in December, after falling 4.8 percent the month before.
New Zealand's unemployment rate eased to 6.2 percent in the third quarter as the number of people finding work outstripped growth in the workforce. Figures for the fourth quarter are due on Feb. 5.
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