Skills shortages will be seen in Australia as a result of low levels of unemployment, it is claimed.

Analysis published by Access Economics suggests organizations will have problems over the coming years attracting and retaining talented workers, AAP reports.

The company's latest Business Outlook predicts joblessness is likely to stand at its lowest rate since 1974 at 4.1 per cent during 2011-12, while the number of positions available is set to rise, driven by construction and mining vacancies.

In addition, it points to tight immigration policies and falling numbers of people entering the country as a contributing factor to skills shortages.

Access is predicting a fall in net migration from a high of 298,900 in 2008-09 to 170,000 in 2015.

"Working-age population numbers are set to crawl through a period in which ideally they would still have been sprinting," the study states.

The unemployment rate in the nation dipped by 25,400 during December 2010 to 598,700, or 5.1 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Posted by Sarah Dixon