SYDNEY, June 5 (Reuters) - Australian job advertisements rose for a third straight month in May, a promising sign for continued labour demand even as official figures on employment remain patchy.
A monthly survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX showed total job advertisements rose 0.4 percent to 169,994 in May, following a 1.5 percent jump in April.
Ads were 7.4 percent higher than in May last year. ANZ no longer provides a breakdown between internet job ads and those in newspapers, as the latter are now a tiny share of total ads.
"Job advertisements indicate that employment growth is likely to continue over the coming months," said David Plank, ANZ's head of Australian economics.
"In our view the unemployment rate is likely to edge downwards over the rest of the year, as official data catches up and matches the forward-looking indicators."
The government measure of the jobless rate dipped to 5.7 percent in April, from 5.9 percent the previous month.