The volume of job ads in Australia declined 0.4% in July from the previous month, driven mainly by weaker demand in New South Wales, according to a Wednesday Seek employment report.

While the number of job ads continues to fall nationally, the pace of decline has slowed over recent months. At the same time, applications per ad have grown consistently since January and are now at their highest point on record, Seek said.

Western Australia, South Australia, and Victoria all posted a rise in job ad volumes month over month in July, with Victoria recording its first monthly rise in a year.

A growing number of industries posted an increase in job ad volumes in July, with engineering, construction and mining, resources and energy seeing the highest demand, according to the report.

Seek said references to artificial intelligence skills in job ads increased more than 60% in the past year, although they are only present in just over 2% of total ads. Meanwhile, job ads for data center roles have doubled over the past year, notably surging around 248% year over year in South Australia.