Expectation that the economic downturn is continuing, despite early signs of improvement

New Stats NZ data shows the number of seasonally adjusted filled jobs in December, rose 0.1 percent compared to the month before - to 2.36 million.

Economist Cameron Bagrie says the last quarter had two halves - with the number of filled jobs in October down, while November and December were up.

He says employers aren't ramping up - and expects the unemployment rate to hit five percent next week.