The United States Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls data due out on Friday is expected to show employers added about 180,000 jobs in August.
Unemployment is expected to have fallen to a three-month low of 4.8% and the pay for workers will have risen.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said after two strong results, the market was expecting a moderation in US job growth.
The report would be closely watched, particularly after comments at the weekend from the Federal Reserve.
The data would be the last major piece of the puzzle before the Fed meeting in September.
September was being picked as the most likely time for the Fed to raise its interest rates from near zero.
The jobs report was unlikely to be sufficient to persuade sceptics in the Fed interest rates should be lifted as soon as September, Mr Timms said.
Signals from the manufacturing data due tomorrow were also more likely to support a cautious stance.
Consumer confidence surveys from the US and Europe were due out today.
"With the particularly positive commentary from [Fed chairwoman] Janet Yellen last week about the strength of the US economy, this is likely to be positive."
Also out today would be the ANZ Business Outlook. ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said confidence fell in July, possibly tainted by pessimism and uncertainty post-Brexit, when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.
In August, headline business confidence was often negatively impacted in winter.
"Underlying confidence is likely to improve due to lower interest rates as the Reserve Bank cut rates in August. Some of the heat came out of the dollar and there was a small lift in dairy prices."
Market scrutiny would also be on the one-year-ahead inflation expectations, he said.
Household credit growth had been running at the highest pace since 2008 in the last two months, largely as housing credit growth accelerated.
The Reserve Bank would released its June figures today.
The new loan-to-value restrictions should see housing credit slow by the end of the year but Mr Tuffley was predicting strong credit growth in July as it was too early for the restrictions to be felt.
Agricultural credit growth had been slowing since late last year and was expected to continue to slow.
Working capital requirements to cover weak cash flows would continued to drive some growth.
Business credit growth was expected to remain steady, supported by the moderate economic growth being expected, he said.
