''Abbott's office assumed they could achieve the same outcome,'' the source said. ''There was no detailed modelling or serious work done to justify the 1 million job target. They looked at the Howard record and said, 'We can match it'.''

The source said questions had been raised within the then opposition as to whether the pledge was a realistic one to make. ''They did not have the same reform package as the Howard government,'' the insider said.

Mr Abbott repeatedly said in the run-up to the election that a Coalition government would create 1 million jobs in its first five years and 2 million in a decade.

Treasury forecast in last month's mini-budget that employment would grow three-quarters of 1 per cent this financial year and 1.5 per cent in each of the next three years. A Parliamentary Library analysis commissioned by Labor found last week that this was likely to leave the Coalition at least 200,000 jobs short of its five-year pledge.

That view was broadly backed by a range of economists who said it would be very difficult for the Coalition to create 1 million jobs in five years, with the mining boom ending and with plans to make deep cuts to the federal budget.