The news of 88,500 new positions put to rest fears sparked partly by July's unexpected fall in employment, that the country's recent surging economic performance was at risk.

The gain was almost three times as much as economists had been expecting, and was largely based on new hiring by builders and retailers capitalising on continued strength in consumer spending.

But rising numbers of people encouraged to seek work by the robust economy meant the jump did not lead to any cut in the headline unemployment rate.

One outcome is likely to be a rise in interest rates before the end of the year, analysts said, despite the persistent weakness in the global picture.

Good times

A rash of poor figures in recent months had suggested that the good times - fuelled by a housing boom - might be coming to an end.

Retail trade has suffered its first fall in nine months, while growth in national output for the April-June quarter fell short of expectations.

But in the past week, new data has suggested that things may still be in reasonably good shape.

Both business and consumer confidence are holding up well in comparison to other developed countries.

"I think (the employment data) shows that the domestic economy here continues to remain pretty firm," said John Horner, senior strategist at SG Australia.

"We've had a strong domestic economy in the second quarter, with a little slowing in July depicted in retail sales, but nothing to get too concerned about."