The ACT's unemployment rate drops to 2.8 per cent

And nationally, the participation of women in the workforce has reached record levels. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show female workforce participation reached 62.5 per cent last month following the employment of an extra 81,000 women in the past two months.

In a result that reinforces anecdotal accounts from local businesses about the difficulty of recruiting staff, ABS figures show Canberra's workforce participation rate - the proportion of working age people in work or actively seeking employment - was at a high 72.6 per cent last month while the proportion reporting they want more hours has dropped to just 4.3 per cent. The results suggest the ACT economy is operating at a high capacity.

While labour demand in the ACT is particularly high, ABS figures indicate that labour markets across the country are tight. The economy added 72,200 full-time jobs in March while the number in part-time employment fell by 19,200 positions.

Nationally, the participation rate was steady at 66.7 per cent as the number of employed nudged higher to 13.884 million and the employment to population ratio lifted to 64.4 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is in Washington, DC for talks with IMF and World Bank officials and G20 counterparts, said the jobs results was "a remarkable outcome given the pressures on the economy".

"[The] result is a positive one for Australia's economy and our prospects in contending with the uncertainty we face in the global economy right now," Dr Chalmers said.

The employment data add to evidence that the economy entered 2023 with considerable momentum, bolstered by the ongoing rebound in arrivals from overseas - including an additional 142,580 international students in February.

But the labour force result is a lag indicator, reflecting hiring decisions employers made weeks or months earlier, and other data indicates that economic activity is slowing under pressure from 10 interest rate rises and high inflation.

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the key consideration for the Reserve Bank of Australia as it considers changes in monetary policy is that the tight labour market has yet to result in excessive wages growth.

Mr Bloxham said the surge in migration since the borders reopened had helped lift labour supply so that the unemployment rate had "broadly trended sideways" since mid-2022, helping limit wage pressure.

He said the fact that the labour market was tight, but not tightening further, would allow the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates steady in coming months.

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Other evidence points to a softening economy. House prices have been declining, building approvals have slumped and household consumption has weakened.

Similar economic slowdowns are occurring across the world as concerted central bank action to tame inflation by hiking interest rates is increasingly bearing down on activity.

The International Monetary Fund has trimmed its growth forecasts for both the Australian and global economies, predicting Australia's gross domestic product to expand by just 1.6 per cent this year.

Dr Chalmers said the IMF's forecasts were "a pretty grim set of figures" and warned Australia would not be immune from international developments.

"But we do enter this new period of global economic uncertainty from a position of relative strength: our unemployment rate is low, we've got the beginnings of wages growth, we're getting good for very good prices for our exports on global markets as well," Dr Chalmers said.

"And so it will be a difficult period, our own economy will slow considerably but in this environment, you would rather be Australia than almost any other country."