Australian employment rose for a 13th straight month in October, the longest stretch of gains since the early 1990s, while the jobless rate dipped to its lowest in over 4-1/2 years. Thursday's figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed 3,700 net new jobs were eked out in October. That was short of forecasts of a 17,500 rise, but September was revised up to a solid increase of 26,600 from the first estimate of a gain of 19,800.
The detail was also upbeat with full-time jobs climbing 24,300, bringing gains for the year to a blistering 298,000. The jobless rate dipped one tenth of a percentage point to 5.4 percent, under forecasts and the lowest since February 2013.
Health care has seen the lion's share of new jobs thanks in part to a government expansion in support for child care and carers, while the steady aging of the population should make the sector only bigger over time. Construction jobs have also been on the rise amid a surge in public spending on infrastructure, a revival the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has called a new "engine of growth".
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