A summer of natural disasters has failed to dent the growth in jobs, as new figures show an employer recruitment spree extended through the first three months of the year.
The number of internet and newspaper job ads rose 1.3 per cent last month, to be 19.2 per cent higher than a year earlier, the ANZ Bank said yesterday.
The rise was the 11th monthly increase in a row, a trend economists say points to further rises in employment as the resources boom gathers pace.
However, separate figures underlined that flooding and cyclone Yasi continue to exact a toll on household budgets by driving up living costs.
The TD Securities Inflation Gauge found flood-induced shortages sparked an 11.3 per cent spike in fruit and vegetable prices in the month, pushing headline inflation to 3.8 per cent.
Growth in job ads is the latest evidence the labour market remains in good health - in contrast with expectations the economy stalled in the March quarter because of natural disasters.
Although the pace of job advertising growth has slowed from January's rate of 42.6 per cent to 19.2 per cent, analysts say the current growth is sustainable.
Economists at ANZ said the increases in February and March pointed to a fall in the jobless rate from 5 per cent to 4.9 per cent when official figures are published on Thursday.
In the long term, analysts say the economy will generate even more jobs in industries linked to the mining boom such as engineering, construction and other trades.
The JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans said the full force of the job boom would be felt later this year and next, when investment is expected to reach a record share of the economy.
"Even if employment gains are a little bit more modest over the next few months, we expect the growth to accelerate in the second half of this year and into 2012," she said.
In a sign of the unfolding recovery from the floods, job ad growth has been strongest in Queensland, where it has risen 15 per cent in the past year. NSW job ads have risen by 1 per cent over the year and Victoria's by 0.8 per cent.
The Citi economist Joshua Williamson said there had been a similar bounce in Queensland's February retail sales, which rose 2.3 per cent, the fastest in the country.
"I think the Queensland data could be indicative of a post-cyclone rebound. It could also start to signal an improvement in Australia's second largest resource-based economy," he said.
Separately, the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute inflation gauge said an 11.3 per cent jump in fruit and vegetable costs had driven consumer prices 0.6 per cent higher last month.
With tensions in the Middle East also pushing petrol costs 5.3 per cent higher, the survey's overall reading of headline inflation was 3.8 per cent, outside the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of 2 to 3 per cent.
However analysts think the Reserve Bank board will today "look through" the temporary jump in inflation from the floods and oil prices, keeping interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent.