Average monthly job advertisement numbers have hit a nine-year high, while unemployment has fallen to the lowest level in half a decade, separate data releases have revealed.

Analysis by job listings site, Seek, found that average monthly job ads in the year to June 2018 are 29 per cent above the level recorded in 2010. However, it noted that while the total number of job ads was up 8.9 per cent last financial year, this rate had slowed markedly from the 13.9 per cent growth seen a year earlier.

“Although job ad growth appears to be slowing, the job market remains strong,” said Kendra Banks, the group’s ANZ managing director.

It was the mining sector that posted the biggest uptick in job vacancies over the year, with volumes 32 per cent higher in June 2018 than the corresponding month last year.

The next best performer was the community services and development industry, up 18 per cent, followed closely by government and defence (16 per cent) and consulting and strategy (15 per cent).

The wooden spoon, though, went to the scandal-plagued banking and financial services sector, where the number of job ads fell by 16 per cent.

Real estate and property jobs also saw a marked decline, down 13 per cent, as did design and architecture (off by 10 per cent), as the east coast property boom came to an abrupt halt after years of strong growth.

The full list can be found below.

Meanwhile, the ABS released the latest official unemployment figures, which revealed a slide in the trend unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent – the lowest in more than five years.

“Over the year to June, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points. This continues a gradual decrease in the trend unemployment rate from late 2014 and is the lowest rate since January 2013,” explained ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman.

The figure was helped by the participation rate remaining steady at 65.6 per cent in June 2018.

The ABS recorded a spike in the number of monthly hours worked, with June 2018 edging up by 0.2 per cent or 3.4 million hours worked to a total of 1.752 billion hours nationally.

That was largely driven by young people entering the workforce, with 15 to 19-year-olds accounting for roughly one-third of the employment growth since the beginning of the year.

New job ads by sector, change from June 2017 to June 2018

Increase:

• Mining, resources and energy: up 32 per cent
• Community services and development: up 18 per cent
• Government and defence: up 16 per cent
• Consulting and strategy: up 15 per cent
• Trades and services: up 12 per cent
• Hospitality and tourism: up 11 per cent
• HR/recruitment: up 10 per cent
• Healthcare and medical: up 9 per cent
• Manufacturing, transport and logistics: up 8 per cent
• Information and communications technology: up 8 per cent
• Engineering: up 5 per cent
• Farming, animals and conservation: up 4 per cent
• Education and training: up 4 per cent
• Accounting: up 3 per cent
• Sports and recreation: up 2 per cent
• Marketing and communications: up 1 per cent
• Retail and consumer products: up 1 per cent
• Administration/office support: up 1 per cent
• Legal: up 1 per cent
• Science and technology: up 1 per cent

No change:

• CEO and general management
• Insurance and superannuation

Decrease: 

• Construction: down 3 per cent
• Sales: down 3 per cent
• Call centre and customer service: down 6 per cent
• Advertising, arts and media: down 8 per cent
• Design, architecture: down 10 per cent
• Real estate and property: down 13 per cent
• Banking and financial services: down 16 per cent

Source: Seek