A jobs boom after the Delta outbreak restrictions were lifted in Australia's south-east has seen unemployment plunge to just 4.2 per cent.
The official ABS data show the unemployment rate dropping from 4.6 to 4.2 per cent, with an estimated 64,800 jobs created between November and December.
"This is the lowest unemployment rate since August 2008, just before the start of the global financial crisis and Lehman Brothers collapse, when it was 4.0 per cent," observed the bureau's head of labour statistics, Bjorn Jarvis.
The underemployment rate also dropped sharply, with only 6.6 per cent of employed workers saying they wanted more hours of work.
That led to a 1 per cent rise in the number of hours worked across the economy in December.
In further good economic news, the proportion of the population in work or looking for it remained close to record highs.
"The participation rate in December continued to be relatively high," Mr Jarvis said.
"It was 0.2 percentage points higher than before the start of the pandemic and only 0.2 percentage points below the historical high in May and June 2021."
However, the data was taken over the first couple of weeks in December and pre-dates the peak of Australia's Omicron outbreak, which has caused significant business disruptions and a drop-off in consumer demand.
Despite this, many economists are now expecting unemployment to remain in the low-4 per cent range, or even fall under 4 per cent, as the Omicron wave subsides.
Sarah Hunter from BIS Oxford Economics said that falling case numbers and hospitalisations should boost consumer confidence, along with the ongoing vaccine booster program.
Pandemic prompts career rethink
The huge demand for workers, and a relative lack of supply with international borders only just reopening, are prompting many employees to consider a career move.
Research by LinkedIn shows three in five Australians are thinking about switching jobs this year.
"We've all lived through the coronavirus pandemic and that has brought about a fair amount of soul searching," said LinkedIn Australia Careers Specialist Cayla Dengate.
"A lot of people are deciding that what they want is a job that they feel proud of and that aligns with their values."
It appears businesses understand that.
The research shows a more than 300 per cent increase in the number of times "flexibility" was mentioned in company posts on LinkedIn since 2019.
But from a worker's point of view, earning more money is, not surprisingly, still the biggest driver for people to change jobs.
With the current skills shortage, thanks to two years of no migration, the local talent pool has been all but drained.
IT and HR dominate new jobs
It is likely also going to lead to higher wages for some industries in particular.
"The companies that are savvy and want the best people, they're going to be increasing their pay packets," Ms Dengate said.
Based on trends over the past five years, LinkedIn tips the biggest jobs growth this year will be in the technology and human resources fields.
The top six job titles for growth over the past five years are: chief human resources officer, machine learning engineer, site reliability engineer, power system engineer, data engineer and talent acquisition specialist.
Ms Dengate predicts that may also help shift the gender balance.
"We anticipate that trend will continue through this year and that some of those industries that have been traditionally male dominated will start to get a little bit closer to getting more gender balanced and more women on board."
