Payroll jobs rose slightly in the first weeks of March, only partially recovering from the earlier impact of the floods along the east coast of Australia.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said payrolls rose 0.2 per cent in the fortnight to March 12 following a 0.8 per cent drop in the second half of February.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the results coincided with adverse weather conditions and flooding in NSW and Queensland in late February, the continuing influence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and easing of pandemic restrictions across the country.
"Given the disruption to business operations from the weather and Omicron infections, the increase in payroll jobs in early 2022 continued to be weaker than in both 2020 and 2021, particularly over the last month," Mr Jarvis said.
The data provides a guide to next week's full labour force data for March.
Some economists have been expecting next Thursday's figures to show a drop in the unemployment rate below four per cent and to a level not seen since 1974.
Both the Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury are predicting the jobless rate will fall to 3.75 per cent later this year, after falling to a 14-year low of four per cent in February.
A speedier decline in unemployment will add to speculation that the RBA could hike the cash rate as early as June.
The ABS also reported a sharp narrowing in Australia's trade surplus in March after a 12 per cent spike in imports. Exports were barely changed from the previous month.
The trade balance of goods and services was a surplus of $7.5 billion in March compared with a downwardly revised $11.8 billion in February.
Economists had expected a surplus of $12.1 billion, just short of the record $13 billion set in July last year.
Meanwhile, growth in Australia's services sector has slowed as price pressures and staff shortages take their toll.
The Australian Industry Group performance of services index fell 3.8 points to 56.2 in March, although still held above the 50-point mark, which separates expansion from contraction.
"Australia's services sector continued its positive run in March although the pace of growth slowed in the face of intensifying input price pressures, difficulties in finding staff and further wage pressures," Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said.
"The strong lift in new orders reported in March will see the capacity of many businesses stretched over coming months while the availability of staff and the supply of inputs are expected to remain constrained."
