The federal government's leading employment index has fallen for two consecutive months after revisions, suggesting it is too early to expect sub-trend employment growth in coming months.
The leading jobs indicator anticipates movements in the growth cycle of employment, with a turning point confirmed after six consecutive monthly moves in the same direction.
The indicator of employment fell 0.008 index points in December to minus 0.226 points.
"It is too early to tell whether employment will continue to grow more slowly than its long-term trend rate of 1.2 per cent per annum over coming months," the employment department said on Wednesday.
The index has four weighted components: ANZ Newspaper Job Advertisements, Dun and Bradstreet Employment Expectations, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index of Economic Activity and the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index.
Official labour force data for November will be released on Thursday.
Economists expect the number of people employed to have grown by 10,000 in November compared to October, pushing the jobless rate up to 5.8 per cent from 5.7 per cent in the previous month.
