CANBERRA - Access Economics on Thursday said the reconstruction in Queensland, plus the flood-damaged eastern states of Victoria and New South Wales, will lead to skill shortage for Australia.

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According to Access' latest Business Outlook released on Thursday, a mining boom, to feed China's demand for raw materials, will also cause a worker shortage at a time when the jobless rate is at the lowest level since January 2009.

Australia's unemployment rate for December was 5.0 percent, below the average of 5.4 percent in the past decade. Access forecasts unemployment will fall to close to four percent by the end of this year.

"Australia's problems will soon revolve around a lack of workers rather than any lack of jobs," Access research director Chris Richardson wrote in the report released on Thursday.

"Job growth is booming, and rising profits will underpin further gains," The forecaster said a drop in immigration, being encouraged by politicians seeking a "smaller Australia", and growing baby boomer retirements, would put extra burden on skill shortages.

Net migration peaked at 298,900 in 2008/09, but it is set to level out at about 170,000 from 2015.

Access Economics said the looming skills shortages and such low growth in migration levels will result in higher turnover rates and wages for businesses, and will requiring the central bank of Australia to increase interest rates very soon to contain inflation.

In the report, Richardson said while the skills shortage will see delays across the mining sector, wholesale and retail, housing and commercial construction, and the finance sector will encounter cash-flow suffers, as consumers continue to reign in their spending due to inflation and higher mortgage rate.