Weak job growth to continue: govt data

Weak employment growth is likely to continue as the federal government's jobs indicator has fallen for six straight months.

The index anticipates movements in the growth cycle of employment, with a turning point confirmed after six consecutive monthly moves in the same direction.

It fell 0.064 index points in April to minus 0.555 points.

This signalled that employment was likely to grow more slowly than its long-term trend rate of 1.1 per cent per annum over coming months, the Department of Employment 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 March will be released on Thursday.

Economists expect the number of people employed to have fallen by 5000 in March compared with February with the unemployment rate rising to 6.1 per cent from six per cent.