SYDNEY, April 3 (Reuters) - Australian job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet were unchanged in March, though a strong start to the year meant ads were still higher for the first quarter as a whole.
A survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX out on Tuesday showed total job advertisements were flat in March, from February when they dipped 0.4 percent.
The average total number of ads per week was 177,084 in March, up a brisk 11.5 percent compared to a year ago.
David Plank, ANZ's head of Australian economics, noted ads for the first quarter rose by 4.4 percent compared to the previous quarter thanks to a sharp gain in January.
"The level of job ads is consistent with continued strength in employment growth, though we do expect some slowdown in the pace in which jobs are added," said Plank.
Hiring surged past all expectations in the past year, according to the official measure of employment, pulling the jobless rate down to 5.6 percent.
Yet annual wage growth stayed unusually tepid at just 2.1 percent, dragging on household incomes and consumer spending power.
"Spare capacity is reducing only gradually, indicating that wage growth is likely to remain muted for some time yet," said Plank.
With inflation also subdued, the Reserve Bank of Australia is considered certain to keep interest rates at a historic low of 1.5 percent at its April policy meeting on Tuesday.