Fall in job ads starts to slow, NBN board to be named soon: Economy roundup

Some good news for the economy this morning, with the latest SEEK Employment Index showing the rate of decline in the labour market is beginning to slow.

New job advertisements fell by 4.5% – not great, but well below the average monthly rate of decline of 6.1% from September 2008 to May 2009. The decline was felt the hardest in Victoria, where new job ads dropped by 7%.

The index itself fell by a seasonally adjusted -4.7% in June. SEEK employment managing director Joe Powell said while figures are encouraging, it indicates more of a “stabilising” than a recovery.

“Despite, recent comments that suggest Australia may avoid a recession and growing consumer confidence, it is still a very competitive market for those seeking employment,” said Powell.

“The June results once again suggest that to remain competitive in today’s job market, you really need to look at up-skilling. Those jobseekers that have qualifications and the flexibility to move around should look to those areas where their skills are in most demand.”

The top five jobs that were hardest to fill in June were nurses/midwives, school teachers, public servants, IT consultants and property managers. The top five jobs that were in the greatest competition were process workers, sandwich hands, call centre operators, accounts payable clerks and sales assistants.

Shares up

The Australian share market has opened flat today following positive leads from Wall Street overnight due to higher than expected results from Goldman Sachs.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 38.2 points or 0.99% to 3905.3 at 11.45 AEST. The Australian dollar also gained ground to US79c.

Commonwealth Bank shares gained 0.7% to $38.55, with NAB following by a gain of 0.2% to $23.05. Westpac lifted 0.5% to $19.75 as ANZ gained 0.3% to $16.43.

In the US, Wall Street posted gains after Goldman Sachs reported quarterly earnings lifted 33%. The company reported trading income doubled to US$10.78 billion from a year ago, while the equity underwriting division recorded US$736 million in revenue.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 27.81 points, or 0.3%, to 8,359.49.

But things weren’t as good elsewhere in the US, where President Barack Obama said he expects unemployment figures to continue to rise over several months.

“We will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months,” he told reporters at the White House. “We have seen some stabilisation in the financial markets, and that’s good, because that means that companies can borrow and banks are starting to lend again,” he continued.

CSR favouring float of its sugar business

Back home, The Age has reported the board of CSR is favouring a float of its sugar business valued at US$955 million, despite four overseas trading houses looking for bids of a trading sale goes forward.

The newspaper reports that British Sugar, Cosan, Cargill and South Korean food and industrial company CJ Corporation are eying bids. It said British Sugar is the frontrunner for any trade sale.

CSR has made no announcement regarding the details of its demerger, and said recently despite investigation of a number of options it has not made a decision.

NBN board named soon

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has announced that a chairperson, chief executive and board members will be announced for the National Broadband Network by the end of the month.

At the launch of a discussion paper on Australia’s future in the “digital economy” last night, Conroy announced the details and said a lead advisor would also be announced soon.

The NBN would “revolutionise the way Australians interact”, he said. “This is about a revolution in healthcare. It’s about a revolution in education. It’s about a revolution in the way that businesses will interact with each other. It’s about a revolution in the way Australians will communicate with each other.”

The future headquarters of the NBN are still not known.