Four per cent unemployment rate in sight

Employment is expected to have risen by 40,000 in February, but forecasts range from 5000 to 60,000. (AAP)

The unemployment rate could hit four per cent when the latest labour force figures are released this week as the economy recovers from the impact of the Omicron variant.

The jobless rate touched four per cent in February 2008 and August of that year under Kevin Rudd's Labor government, but has never been lower according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures stretching back to 1978.