Payroll jobs have fallen for the second month in a row largely due to workers catching COVID and other winter illnesses.
The 0.8 per cent fall in August follows a 0.6 per cent drop in July.
"The slightly lower number of payroll jobs continued to reflect the ongoing impacts of short-term employee absences from COVID and other illnesses during winter, within a tight labour market," Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour statistics Lauren Ford said.
ABS data also showed the trade balance falling in July despite a strong performance in the June quarter.
The balance on goods and services fell from $17.1b in June to $8.7b in July.
The 9.9 per cent fall in exports was led by a drop in coal, coke and briquettes, as well as metal ores and minerals.
Imports lifted by 5.2 per cent to $46.5b for the month.
In the June quarter, strong exports and slowing imports made a one percentage point contribution to real GDP growth.
The soaring cost of living remains a big issue, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has indicated there will not be any further relief in the federal budget, warning more spending could be "counterproductive".
Dr Chalmers warned Australians to brace for tougher times ahead and said the government was balancing relief against rising inflation and rates.
"The last thing we want to do is to provide that cost of living relief in a way that's counterproductive and just costs people more in the end," he told ABC radio.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe is due to speak about where the economy is headed and the role of monetary policy on Thursday.
Dr Lowe's speech follows another rate hike this week, the fifth in a row, in an effort to tame soaring inflation.
He has made it clear there will be more rate hikes in coming months, although noted the bank was "not on a pre-set path".
The Greens and Nationals senator Matt Canavan have called for the central bank boss to resign because he promised rates would not start rising until 2024.
Dr Chalmers said it wasn't up to him to "take pot shots at Phil Lowe".
"People will rightly ask the governor questions about the recent decisions and recent language," he said.
"My job is to get the system right and also to focus on the things that the government can have an influence on."
Commonwealth Bank economists expect the 50 basis point rise on Tuesday to be the last supersized hike in this tightening cycle, and expect a 25 basis point increase in October to take the cash rate to 2.60 per cent.
But economists believe there's a chance the cash rate will reach 2.85 per cent by the end of the year.
While rate hikes did little to dampen growth figures in June - with GDP lifting by 0.9 per cent in the June quarter - economists expect the impacts of policy tightening to show up in the following quarter.
© AAP 2022