For a government trumpeting the virtues of growth and jobs during an election campaign, new employment figures will be a relief.
The jobless rate stayed at 5.7 per cent in April - remaining at its lowest level since the September 2013 federal election - when economists had expected it to tick up again to 5.8 per cent.
There was also a modest 10,800 increase in the number of people employed, although this was largely made up of part-time workers, April labour force data showed.
Responding to the figures, Treasurer Scott Morrison talked-up the increased number of women in the workforce.
"The big mover of the last year has been the number of women going into the workforce ... some 165,000 jobs created for women ... that's really positive," Mr Morrison told reporters at a small business in western Sydney.
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said while part-time jobs were growing, that was at the expense of full-time workers, which fell by 9300 in April.
"If you want to pay the mortgage or pay the rent, put food on the table ... you need full-time work most often," he told reporters in Sydney.
Earlier in the Sydney CBD, the treasurer insisted his first budget was an economic plan that was never about providing a list of "goodies and sweeteners" for the election campaign.
"The country cannot afford that type of budget ... that is what you are seeing from Bill Shorten, he keeps spending and spending and spending with money he doesn't have," he said.
His comments came as a new survey by JWS Research found that on a personal level only 17 per cent of Australians thought the budget was "good" compared to 37 per cent who thought it was "poor".
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the May 3 budget was based on highly-questionable assumptions, with the iron ore price having fallen since, while figures released on Wednesday showed wages growth at a record low.
"Their entire budget strategy is based on these forecasts," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
Treasury and the Department of Finance will release their independent assessment of the budget as part of the charter of budget honesty on Friday.
But coming just over a fortnight since the May 3 budget was released, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann does not expect the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook to show any material change.
