Australian unemployment tipped to fall

Australian employers continued to hire at a rapid pace in August regardless of - and in some cases because of - the general election, boosting internet job ads by 2.8 per cent nationwide.

The Advantage index, made up of advertisements on three leading websites including The Age's MyCareer, shows Victorian job ads up 1 per cent led by a 9 per cent surge in legal jobs.

''When the economy is performing poorly, law firms can be ruthless in culling numbers,'' said Advantage director Robert Olivier.

''For the most part they retained graduates during the crisis, but operated at leaner senior associate and partner levels,'' he said. ''They are now scrambling to hire experienced professionals to fill the gap.''

Engineering and construction climbed 10 and 8 per cent during the month with hospitality hiring up 8 per cent and finance and sales hiring up 3 per cent. Healthcare, clerical and media jobs lost ground.

Economists surveyed by Reuters expect Thursday's employment figures to show an extra 29,000 Australians gained work in August.

The ANZ's Andrew McManus expects even faster job creation, due to recruitment by the Australian Electoral Commission.

''We think we could see employment growth of around 50,000 in August, enough to nudge the unemployment rate down from 5.3 to 5.2 per cent. But there will be payback in September as those jobs vanish,'' he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News