After the recent run of favourable jobs data and the inevitable debate on the reliability of the monthly labour force data, some cross-testing of those results will come next week with the release of the ABS job vacancies series.
The number of job vacancies has been trending higher (the blue line in the graph) which fits with the recent trends in employment and the unemployment rate. To validate the more recent lift in employment and the welcome fall in the unemployment rate to a 4 year low of 5.5 per cent, the job vacancies series needs to increase further if those gains are not only to be locked in, but hopefully improved upon.
