Australia's business investment sectors may be entering a weakening period as economic indicators point to slower employment growth in the country.
The country's unemployment rate is at its lowest since 2011 and some businesses have started showing signs of scaling back on operations. Analysts pointed out that these movements could lead to higher unemployment as the month's pass.
According to Business Insider Australia, Australia's previously resilient job market may soon crumble as economic indicators suggest a weakening demand for employees. This trend has been attributed to a slowdown in the country's economic development.
Aside from employment being hit with the slowing economy, experts predicted that a weaker employee demand could threaten business investments in the country. Australia is among the countries that rely on business investments to support economic growth.
Furthermore, ANZ Bank's latest job tracking results suggested a significant decline in job advertisements over the past months. The bank uses its tracker to have a better insight into employment rates in Australia in the near future.
While trends are changing, figures of the past could point to history repeating itself in the case of the Australian jobs market. According to news.com.au, the ANZ Bank graph revealed that job advertisements went down by 4.3 percent from the previous year. While advertisements increased for a couple of years, but the latest data suggest that job ads have stopped rolling out.
The outlet pointed out that the graph may have been wrong. However, it is worth noting that ANZ Bank's graph displayed four turning points over the past 13 years and if things continue on this path, Australia may be headed for a higher unemployment rate soon.
Despite concerns about the falling numbers in employment, industry analysts said there are other aspects of job-related graphs that could point to a silver lining such as stable job vacancies.
If we combine a bunch of these data we get the ANZ Labour Market Indicator, which points to a stable rather than rising unemployment rate even in the face of weaker employment growth, this provides some comfort for the outlook, though we are conscious that the downside risks are rising," ANZ's head of Australian economics, David Plank, said.
Meanwhile, consumers and business owners alike have come together amid fears of a slowing Australian economy. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that ANZ's consumer sentiments dropped by almost five percent in the previous week following reports about the country's credit conditions.
The weekly survey revealed that consumers and businesses are concerned about their financial positions in the future as trading and profitability figures dropped over the past months. The retail sector has also been stagnant for five consecutive months, further bearing down on business and consumer optimism.
