The positive news was revealed in this month's ANZ job advertise­ment series which noted that although small, the 1.8 per cent increase in job advertisements in March is eight per cent higher than in March 2009.

And the modest growth in March should be considered very strong, ac­cording to the survey, following a huge jump of 19.1 per cent in February.

Total job advertisements are now 29.9% above their cyclical trough expe­rienced in July 2009, although they remain below the all-time peak reached in April 2008.

"This month's continuation in job ads growth suggests labour demand is strengthening in early 2010 and confirms the rapid improvement in eco­nomic conditions in Australia over the past six months," says ANZ's chief economist Warren Hogan.

Hogan continued by saying the steady increase in labour demand is al­ready translating into solid employment growth and reduced unemploy­ment, even during the current period of relatively strong population and labour force growth.

"The unemployment rate is now sitting around 5.3 per cent. We ex­pect it to ease down through the rest of 2010, although small, temporary wobbles are likely, depending on the monthly interaction between growth in the labour force, in jobs and hours worked. The unemployment rate is likely to stabilise around five per cent or a little bit lower over the year ahead," he says.

According to Hogan, in the near term the forward indicators contin­ue to point towards more employ­ment growth through 2010 although he says the pace of growth will vary and is likely to be slower than in the jobs boom seen over the past six months.

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Hogan says he expects another rise in total employment in April and that labour demand will translate into jobs growth of around 12,000.