. UNEMPLOYMENT is ready to drop further using the amount of job vacancies climbing to record amounts, fuelling speculation of another interest rise.

National job openings in the 90 days to August rose 2.9 percent, seasonally modified, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics immigration and naturalization book .

Job openings increased by 11.9 per cent within the year-to August.

CommSec equities economist Martin Arnold said with job opportunities now at a high, as bosses were encouraged by business conditions to get more staff - the unemployment rate was set to fall below 4 per cent - from its current 4.3 per cent.

“The Australian economy is recording solid growth and business conditions are nearly as good as they get,” he said.

The effectiveness of the economy led a frustrated John Howard to say the general public was a failure to offer the government credit for financial management.

“I think there is a view locally… perhaps an important amount that, for somehow or yet another, our economic strength and our economic stability and growth is happening naturally, that the economy is on autopilot,” the Prime Minister told a forum at Ocean Grove on the coast yesterday.

He said this was one of the reasons why the federal government was faring so badly in the public opinion polls: “I think people are beginning to get the Australian economy for granted.”

Seasonally-adjusted work opportunities totalled 172,700 in the 3 months to August.

Mr Arnold said there were fewer than three unemployed people for each work, the bottom level on record.

Company services has been among the strongest development areas, with 45,200 openings, 28.4 % greater than a year-ago.

The number of jobs vacant in the communications industry has a lot more than doubled to 2800 in-the same time.

There is strong demand for labour in the building, retail trade and transport industries.

Areas that look like less desperate for staff include food, adventure and personal services.

The public sector is continuing to expand, with the quantity of vacant jobs 11.8 percent higher than last year the how to immigrate emigrate .

In the year to August, job vacancies in the growth state of Western Australia were up by 31.8 per cent, unadjusted, used by the ACT, which was up 31 per cent.

Only Queensland had a drop, with year-on-year vacancies down 3.3 percent.

Matthew Johnson, the senior economist at dealer ICAP, said the rise in jobs openings must produce employment growth greater than 2 percent.

“This suggests that unemployment will probably fall lower, and that everyone else in the Reserve Bank down will continue to fret about wage-push inflation,” he explained.

Large job opportunities and low unemployment is a conventional formula for inflation, using a limit to exactly how many opportunities could be filled.

There's, so far, been no proof wage inflation, with the average price of labour increasing broadly in line with costs in-the economy. Another inflation numbers are published on October 24.

UBS chief economist Scott Haslem said the progress in job opportunities would bring about higher inflation in the final months of 2007. He expected the Reserve Bank could raise interest rates in February 2008 to prevent inflation going above-the RBA's 3 per cent target range.

But Mr Arnold said the increase in labour supply, coming from migration, would not make earnings challenges.