The Australian Bureau of Statistics's latest employment data shows the Commonwealth workforce – which includes the bureaucracy, other government agencies and the military – shrank by 1.7 per cent during 2013-14.

In most parts of the country, the loss of federal jobs was offset by growth in state or territory governments or in local councils.

But the ACT, which has no local councils, lost 7200 federal jobs over the year as well as 300 territory employees: a total of 7 per cent of its public sector workforce.

It was the steepest downturn recorded in any state or territory since the bureau began releasing detailed government employment data seven years ago.

The Northern Territory lost almost one in eight of its Commonwealth jobs, but its territory government expanded its workforce significantly during the same period.

Among state governments, Western Australia's cuts were the deepest: it shed almost 3 per cent of its workforce.

Meanwhile, Canberra-based consultancy Macroeconomics says the worst is yet to come for ACT workers.

The forecaster's mid-year budget bulletin, released this week, predicts the city's unemployment rate will soar over the next three years, rising from 3.6 per cent earlier this year to 6.7 per cent.

The ACT's jobless rate remains relatively low but the forecast would place it on par with the firm's predicted national average.

Macroeconomics budget director Stephen Anthony said Canberra's construction boom was tipped to end this year, "after which the economy is likely to slow at least until 2016-17".

"A further risk to the ACT economy is the continuation of Commonwealth public sector job cuts, with 16,500 positions targeted for retrenchment ... with possibly more to follow," Mr Anthony's report said.

"Presumably at least 30 to 40 per cent of these job losses will come from the ACT and surrounding regions. The ACT government itself may also need to cut back on public servants to restore the budget to surplus."