Employment growth is expected to have slowed in January, meaning a slight rise in the unemployment rate.
Figures to be released on Thursday are expected to show the number of people with jobs rose 7,500 in January, according to an AAP survey of 14 economists.
The economy added a whopping 37,400 jobs in December, 44,900 in November and 16,700 in October.
The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 6.2 per cent for January, from 6.1 per cent in December.
A month of weak employment growth is inevitable after strong gains in recent months, Commonwealth Bank economist John Peters said.
"The labour market over 2014 was reasonably soft, although jobs growth in November and December appeared to strengthen somewhat," he said.
"Despite soft jobs growth over 2014, the unemployment rate has held at just over six per cent - and not ratcheted higher over this period, because of a falling participation rate."
The Reserve Bank last week downgraded its economic growth forecasts by a quarter of a percentage point, and said the unemployment rate was expected to peak a little higher than previously expected.
"The timing of the recovery in non-mining business investment has been pushed out until later in 2015," the RBA said on Friday.
ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan expects the unemployment rate to peak at 6.5 per cent.
He said the jobs market was improving in some parts of the country while people were losing their jobs in others.
"In particular, the relative strength of NSW job ads stands out, and is consistent with other indicators highlighting the state's outperformance," he said.
"A gap between job ads and the official data remains, however, most likely reflecting a higher rate of retrenchments in industries such as manufacturing and resources, which suggests that overall labour demand is struggling to keep pace with the flow of new workers into the economy."
The ANZ job advertisements series rose for the eighth straight month in January.
FINDINGS OF AAP'S JOBS SURVEY FOR JANUARY
* Unemployment forecast to rise to 6.2 pct, from 6.1 pct in Dec
* Number of jobs created to rise by 7,500
* Participation rate to be steady at 64.8 pct
* Employment growth forecasts ranged from a gain of 15,000 to a fall of 20,000
Source: AAP survey of 14 economists
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