Australian skilled vacancies rise 1.2 pct in Oct

CANBERRA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Australia's index of skilled job vacancies rose 1.2 percent between September and October, seasonally adjusted, the employment department said on Wednesday.

The skilled vacancies index was still 43.9 percent lower than a year earlier in seasonally adjusted terms.

The index, based on job advertisements in major newspapers, rose 1.9 percent in trend terms in October to 40.2, but was 44 percent lower than a year earlier.

Vacancies rose in trend terms for all three occupational groups, with professionals up by 1.5 percent, trades up 2.0 percent and associate professionals up by 3.9 percent.

The department said the rise in skilled vacancies was widespread, with increases in 12 of the index's 18 sub groups.

The biggest rises were for building and engineering professionals and for accountants and auditors, while the largest falls were for marketing and advertising professionals and for medical/science technical officers.

Separately, the information and communications technology (ICT) index rose 0.9 percent in October to 123.8 but was 46.4 percent lower than a year earlier.

The department said its new Internet Vacancy Index, which lags the main newspaper-based index by one month, rose 8.3 percent between August and September to 77.3.

Based on four large Internet recruitment sites, it was 44.2 percent lower than September 2008.

(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Mark Bendeich)

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