Joe Hockey will have a spring in his step when he hears about the latest employment figures showing an unexpected drop in the jobless rate to 6.1 per cent.
The treasurer is in Washington attending a G20 meeting, which will provide international insights for his May 12 budget.
The March labour force figures also showed a huge 37,700 jump in the number of people in employment, mostly in full-time work, a figure double that economists were expecting.
They had forecast an unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz was encouraged by the result but says the rate is still too high and the government needs to do more to drive it lower.
"Not only do we want to turn tax takers into taxpayers from an economic point of view but the social good of getting people into employment should never be overlooked," he said.
However, Labor doesn't believe the government has a plan for jobs.
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said the 2014 budget effectively softened the labour market by failing to provide confidence for employers to hire and consumers to purchase.
"The government has less than four weeks before the budget to restore confidence among the business community," he said.
Mr Hockey was forecasting a 6.5 per cent unemployment rate by June in his mid-year budget review.
A more up-to-date prediction by the International Monetary Fund this week put the jobless rate at 6.4 per cent in 2015, easing to 6.2 per cent in 2016.
The employment outcome will make the Reserve Bank think twice before cutting the cash rate again.
Many economists had expected a reduction in the cash rate to a new all-time low of 2 per cent when the central bank board meets on May 5 and in anticipation of benign official inflation figures next Wednesday.
The cash rate has been 2.25 per cent since February.
David Lane, from business consultants Pitcher Partners, expects the RBA will leave the cash rate unchanged for another month.
"These trends in employment are encouraging and indicate that the previous rate cut is having a positive impact on business," he told AAP.
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