A slowing economy has sparked the first drop in job advertisements in almost a year, which could signal a rise in unemployment.
Job ads on the internet and in newspapers fell 1.4 per cent in March, the first fall since May 2014, figures from ANZ show.
ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said the number of jobs being advertised are still at elevated levels, after growth of 6.6 per cent over the past 12 months, but warns the unemployment rate is likely to rise in 2015.
"This likely reflects that job losses in areas such as mining and manufacturing are causing a greater inflow of labour than other sectors of the economy are capable of absorbing," he said.
"We will monitor in coming months, but this may suggest that peak growth in job advertisements has now passed."
The jobless rate dropped back to 6.3 per cent in February, after hitting a 12-year high of 6.4 per cent in January.
Dun & Bradstreet corporate affairs manager Josh Maher is confident employment growth will strengthen later in the year, especially in the non-mining sectors of the economy.
A Dun and Bradstreet survey released on Tuesday shows 27 per cent of employers intend to hire new staff in the second quarter of 2015, up from 22 per cent a year ago.
The weakening Australian dollar was also benefitting manufacturers, with 25 per cent planning to employ new staff in the next quarter, up from 16 per cent a year earlier.
"The services sector - the country's biggest employer - is most upbeat about employment in the next three months, with 36 per cent indicating they will hire staff during that period," Mr Maher said.
UBS economists Scott Haslem and George Tharenou said recent strength in jobs ads in the past few month means employment growth will be solid for a few more months yet.
"The job ads series, for now, remains consistent with a rebound in the year-on-year pace of jobs growth over coming months," they said.
Mr Hogan said a weaker economy and jobs market justifies the need for an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank.
"We believe the lower interest rate environment will assist the recovery in non-mining business investment and household consumption as well as keeping some downward pressure on the currency," he said.
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