CANBERRA - The labour market in Australia is expected to show continuing strength today but observers will be looking for signs whether a tight job market is pushing up wages.
The Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release labour force figures for April later this morning.
Economists aretipping the jobless rate will remain at 30-year lows of 4.5 per cent, the same as it was in March.
The expectation was supported by the ANZ job ads series, released on Monday, which showed the total number of positions advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the internet rose 3.5 per cent in April to a weekly average of 228,445.
The total number of advertisements in April was 27 per cent higher than a year ago.
Economists are predicting the labour market will continue to remain tight but warn it could feed into higher wages.
The concern for the government is higher wages could push up inflation, increasing the risk of an interest rate rise before the election.
