Summary

- The ANZ New Zealand job advertisement series, which sums newspaper and internet ads, fell 2.0 percent in April (sa), following a 0.9 percent fall in March.

- The monthly fall was driven by a 3.0 percent fall in internet listings, partly offset by a 3.5 percent rise in newspaper job advertising (both sa).

- Our "composite" total, which weights newspaper ads more heavily to give a better (inverse) indicator for the unemployment rate, rose 0.1 percent (sa), failing to recover from March's 3.6 percent fall.

- The trend in our composite series has been gently declining since mid-2011, suggesting a fairly tepid labour market persists.

- While the regional data is volatile, particularly for Canterbury recently, it is clear that an increasingly two-speed labour market exists. Other regions remain mixed.