Sydney  - Job advertisements rose in August for the first time in 16 months in a further sign that Australia is skirting the worst of the global downturn.

The ANZ bank survey released Monday showed a 4.1-per-cent rise in job vacancies advertised in newspapers and on the internet compared with a 1.7-per-cent fall in July.

ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said the figures "provide the best evidence we have received to date that the labour market, and the economy more generally, is about to enter the recovery phase of this downturn."

Hogan warned that, as the recovery took hold, full-time positions would be the last to show an improvement as employers responded to the improved conditions by increasing the hours of those working part time.

The economy grew 0.6 per cent in the quarter ending in June after an expansion of 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter.

Alone among developed countries, Australia is not in the technical recession of two consecutive quarters of contraction.

The unemployment rate, which stands at 5.8 per cent, is not expected to match the prediction of 10 per cent that the government made in May.

"We now expect the unemployment rate to peak at around 7.25 per cent in mid-2010," Hogan said. (dpa)