The Reserve Bank should cut the official interest rate on Tuesday because unemployment has edged higher, bond yields have inverted and there are concerns that a trade war could spill over into weaker economic growth.

That's the view of the so-called shadow board of economists at the Australian National University, which includes nine leading economists.

While it's the shadow board's first time in five years that it has decided the RBA should cut rates, it was only 50 per cent confident of that decision, given impending tax cuts and the defeat of Labor's negative gearing and capital gains tax changes at the federal election could bolster growth.

Financial markets have fully priced in a 0.25 percentage point rate cut to 1.25 per cent this Tuesday, bringing to an end the longest run of unchanged interest rates in RBA history. Some economists have forecast that rates could go as low as 0.5 per cent by this time next year.

Shadow board member Timo Henckel pointed to the unemployment rate rising for the second month in a row in April to 5.2 per cent - an indicator the RBA has repeatedly highlighted as a guide to its monetary policy decision.

Dr Henckel also pointed to a higher level of part-time employment rate reflecting more under-employment and was less optimistic than some on how much federal government fiscal stimulus would flow through to improving economic growth and job creation.