However there are early signs that the freefall is slowing, a new report has found.

The SEEK monthly employment report found new job ads posted during April was down nearly two-thirds (65.6 per cent) on the previous year.

The number of ads also declined by nearly half (49.9 per cent) on the previous month.

The ACT was insulated from the worst of jobs advertisement downturn, recording a decline of 25.2 per cent in April.

NSW and Victoria were hardest hit, with job advertising down 52.4 per cent and 56.3 per cent compared to March.

However SEEK Australia and New Zealand managing director Kendra Banks said rate of decline was easing.

Data from the first two weeks of May showed tentative signs of improvement.

"It is encouraging to see that we may be at a turning point," Ms Banks said.

April was the first month where the full impact of coronavirus lockdowns on the economy were able to be measured.

"The full set of social isolation measures were not imposed until mid-March, which explains why March job ad declines were -27.4 per cent, compared to April's decline of -49.9 per cent," Ms Banks said.

"In the week ended 10 May, job advertising was down -59.7 per cent compared to the same week last year. At the lowest point in April, week ended 19 April shows a job ad decline of -69.1 per cent compared to the same week in 2019.

"This 10 per cent shift means we may have turned a corner after reaching a particularly low point of decline."

Ms Banks also remained "cautiously optimistic" for the employment market in the ACT.

"Industries such as IT and Government & Defence, which make large contributions to job ad volumes, performed reasonably well throughout April," Ms Banks said.

"Roles are opening up across Education & Training, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, IT, Healthcare & Medical and Construction sectors, and we expect jobseekers to have more opportunities over the coming months."

Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed nearly 594,300 Australians lost their job between March and April, with the unemployment rate rising 1 percentage point to 6.2 per cent.

The number of underemployed people increased by more than 600,000 to over 1.8 million people in April, an increase of almost 50 per cent.