Employment across Australia posted a stronger than expected performance during the month of February, climbing higher for the fifth straight month, even as the unemployment rate registered a sharper decline and pointed to signs of economic recovery. According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian economy added 88,700 new jobs in February, higher than the 29,000 rise seen in January.

The figure also beat economists’ expectations which were for a gain of 30,000 jobs instead. Meanwhile, the jobless rate fell to 5.8% during February, significantly lower than the 6.4% reading in the previous month and the forecast for a drop to 6.3%.

Overall employment in the country now tops 13 million, an increase by 4,000 when compared to March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic first hit Australia and forced the government to go into lockdown mode. The strong performance of the labor market is expected to further increase the likelihood of the government winding up its wage subsidy scheme at the end of this month.

With the RBA maintaining that it will hold its interest rates at 0.1% until employment levels post a strong rebound, the statistics about the labor market are of great interest among investors. According to the central bank’s latest estimates, Australia’s labor market is expected to take around three more years to rebound completely to pre-pandemic levels.