SYDNEY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Australian job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet surged by the most in a decade in January, pointing to still-healthy demand for labour despite months of rapid employment growth.
A monthly survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group out on Monday showed total job advertisements jumped 6.2 percent in January from December when they fell 2.7 percent. That was the largest monthly rise since February 2010.
The average total number of ads per week was 177,961, up 13.8 percent compared to a year ago and the highest since 2011.
"It is encouraging to see a strong recovery in job ads last month after a slight retreat in December," said David Plank, ANZ's head of Australian economics.
"The bounce in January is in line with ongoing strength in business conditions, capacity utilisation and other surveys of employment conditions."
Jobs growth surged past all expectations last year, according to the official measure of employment, nudging the jobless rate down to 5.4 percent.
Yet wage growth stayed unusually tepid at just 2.0 percent, dragging on household incomes and consumer spending power.
With inflation also contained, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is considered certain to keep interest rates at an historic low of 1.5 percent at its first policy meeting of the year on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Eric Meijer)
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