Tony Abbott has signalled that economic management will be at the heart of his election pitch, promising to "increasingly detail" the Coalition's policies during the year.

The Opposition Leader has seized on the latest rise in unemployment, linking it to Labor's decision to break its commitment to delivering a budget surplus this year.

"No government can be good for jobs if it is not good for the economy... and this is a Government which simply can't manage the budget," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

"In the end, it all comes down to the economy.

"If you don't have a strong economy, it's very difficult to have the strong communities that every Australian wants and deserves."

He says having a strong economy is necessary to maintaining good government services, having a clean environment and securing the country's borders.

Labor has responded to Mr Abbott's comments by pointing to the Government's track record in guiding the economy through the effects of the global financial crisis.

"Since the Government came to office, we have created more than 800,000 jobs, we've grown the economy by 13.2 per cent, and labour productivity has risen by 6.5 per cent," Employment Participation Minister Kate Ellis said.

She also pointed to the way in which state Liberal governments have gone about slashing jobs, arguing that a federal Coalition government would take the same approach.

"You don't have to look back to the Howard government, you can look to any of the current state Liberal governments to see exactly what modern-day Liberals stand for," Ms Ellis said.

"And that is job losses, it is stripping away people's protections in the workplace, and we know that an Abbott-led government would be absolutely no different.

"Now if they want to stand up today and talk about job losses, they might want to have a few words to say to their colleague in (Queensland Premier) Campbell Newman, because we know that when you look at Queensland, it sends a very clear example to the rest of the country of what we would see if Tony Abbott was ever elected to government."

The federal election is due in the second half of the year, and this week's Newspoll showed Labor was now within striking distance of the Coalition's lead.

The results buoyed Labor MPs who said voters appeared to be backing the Government's economic vision for the country.

Mr Abbott has responded to the results, saying: "No-one ever said it was easy to defeat an incumbent government.

"But every day of this year I will be pointing out that we have an incompetent and untrustworthy government up against an Opposition which has positive plans for a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia."