AUSTRALIA’S job market buckled in August as the impact of lengthening lockdowns took a toll on hiring. Job ads dropped 2.5 percent in August, following a downwardly revised 1.3 percent fall in July, according to the ANZ Bank’s job ads survey. However, job ads are still more than a quarter above their pre-pandemic level and holding up much better than during the national lockdown last year, ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said. The cumulative 3.7 percent fall in job ads over the past two months was miniscule compared with the 64 percent plunge last year during the national lockdown, Birch said. That is also in line with other key indicators such as consumer confidence, which has fallen but is still well above the lows of 2020, she added. Still, it is likely that job ads will decline further over coming months, and ANZ expects sizable employment losses in locked-down areas, with the national unemployment rate set to rise back above 5 percent. Hit hard by the Delta strain of the COVID-19 virus in June, Australia’s two biggest growth states have been plunged into lengthening lockdowns that are expected to stretch into the fourth quarter. (SD-Agencies) | 