New Zealand's employment picture will become clearer on Wednesday when Statistics New Zealand releases its latest data, although most economists agree on continuing employment growth in March.
The unemployment rate is expected to remain close to or at the current 5.2%. Westpac is forecasting 5.2%, ANZ 5.1% and ASB 5%.
Hours worked are likely to have increased in the March quarter because demand for labour remains strong.
ANZ senior economist Phil Borkin said the bigger uncertainty, once again, was on the supply side.
''If we are basing our judgement purely on anecdote, then we'd conclude overall labour supply growth is not keeping pace with demand. Firms are finding it increasingly difficult to find staff.''
According to the ANZ Small Business Microscope, finding staff was the biggest problem for businesses now, he said.
The evidence was presented at the end of last year as well. Labour supply growth of 1.1% quarter-on-quarter meant the unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in December. But what was becoming increasingly clear was the tightness of the labour market was not about the amount of labour available now. Instead, it was about the skills available workers possessed.
There seemed to be an increasing mismatch with what firms were looking for, Mr Borkin said.
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod expected employment levels to have increased by 0.8% in March and gains supported by firm economic conditions as well as strong population growth.
Increases in employment were expected to be widespread and large gains were expected in service sectors - such as professional services - and construction.
Those sectors had been key drivers of GDP growth and businesses in those sectors had reported they had continued to increase staff numbers in recent months, he said.
Labour force participation had risen strongly in the past year, underpinned by strong net migration as well as economic conditions encouraging people to enter the labour force.
Those conditions had continued in the early part of the year and Mr Ranchhod expected the participation rate would move higher in March to 70.6%.
The participation rate was a key area of risk around the Westpac forecasts because after some large increases in recent quarters, there was a chance participation fell in March, he said.
Also out on Wednesday are the Quarterly Employment Survey and Labour Cost Index.
For the QES, Westpac was forecasting full-time employment to have grown by 0.9% in the quarter, hours paid to be up 1.2% and private average hourly earnings to have fallen 0.3%.
The LCI was forecast to show all sectors ordinary time, private sector ordinary time and private salary and wage rates to all have grown 0.4% in the quarter.
Mr Ranchhod said although the labour market had been strengthening, wage inflation remained low. Westpac expected the LCI to show base wage rates rose by only 1.6% in the past year.
The broader QES measure of average hourly earnings was expected to have risen by 1.4% in the year.
The low wage inflation seen in recent years had come against a backdrop of more general softness in consumer prices, he said.
''That means even though nominal earnings growth is limited, households' purchasing power is continuing to expand at a healthy pace.''
The recent rebound in Consumer Price Index inflation to 2.2% signalled increasing pressure on the purchasing power of households.
Combined with firmness in domestic activity, the rise in CPI inflation was expected to mean wage growth rising - especially with businesses highlighting increased difficulty sourcing both skilled and unskilled labour.
Nevertheless, wages were still expected to rise gradually, Mr Ranchhod said.
