Job vacancies in Australia's technology sector increased in December, according to a staffing firm's monthly survey.

The seasonally-adjusted Oliver Jobs Index revealed that employment advertisements for the IT industry increased by 0.46 per cent on November's figures last month - though this was still 31 per cent less than recorded a year earlier.

Specifically, the index disclosed that roles for sales and marketing professionals increased by 8.6 per cent in December, while the number of positions available for software developers also grew.

Robert Oliver, Oliver Group director, explained that employment in the IT sector will improve further as companies ease up budgetary constraints.

He said: "Last month's unemployment figure surprised many but, given the way that ads have been performing in the last six months, we feel that there's a positive employment trend."

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics disclosed that the country's unemployment rate declined by 0.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent in December 2009.