Sydney powers on
Greater Sydney's economy has added a stunning +118,700 jobs over the past 12 months, sending the monthly unemployment rate for the harbour city all the way down to 3.96 per cent.
It's the first time this reading has been under 4 per cent since way back in 2007.
On an annual average basis Sydney's unemployment rate declined to fresh decade-lows at 4.39 per cent in October 2018.
That said, Melbourne has the strongest trend, with a monthly unemployment rate of just 4.25 per cent, representative of a marked improvement over the past year.
I'm down in Melbourne this week, and it's pumping.
Victoria is creating so many job vacancies right now - both in its capital city and in the regional centres - that it appears likely to be the best performing economy in 2019.
Greater Adelaide's annual average unemployment rate is now under 6 per cent, which represents a vast improvement from 7½ per cent in 2016.
The annual average number of unemployed persons continued to decline steadily in October on another improved monthly reading.
And the median duration of job search was 17 weeks in October, down moderately from 18 weeks a year earlier.
The improvement here was driven by Greater Brisbane and Melbourne.
Pay rises loom
October tends to be a seasonally strong month for unemployment, but there's increasing evidence - anecdotal and otherwise - of employers finding it progressively harder to source appropriately skilled workers.
This is especially so in construction and project management on the back of the $50 billion+ infrastructure boom.
Solid growth in nominal GDP and profits should also help to see household incomes rising into 2019.
With the next financial update likely to show a Federal Budget swinging towards surplus, the next six months is set to be a battle of election promises and packages, and a targeted campaign against Labor's proposed tax grabs.
