Australian online job ads slow down in November

Australian job advertisements on internet sites grew at the slowest pace in over a year in November as higher interest rates hurt the construction industry while a strong dollar dented the tourism sector, a Reuters report said.

The Reuters report, citing a study from the Olivier Group, said the country's internet job index rose a marginal 0.46% in November, the smallest gain since August 2006, with 13 out of the 21 industry sectors surveyed falling.

'Our analysis shows that the easing of demand for workers was early in the month, which suggests that the interest rate increase was a factor,' Robert Olivier, director of recruitment firm Olivier Group, was quoted by the report as saying.

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates to an 11-year high of 6.75% early in November, the report said.

The index tracked a 6.3% drop in the building and construction industry sector following the hike.

The hospitality, tourism and travel sector also fell 2.1%, probably reflecting a strong Australian dollar, the report said.

Official figures on employment are due next Thursday and analysts generally expect a solid 20,000 rise in jobs with unemployment holding at 4.3%.

The report further said Olivier surveyed 375,303 positions vacant advertisements on commercial job sites in the month.