One in three jobs created in 2024 was in the public sector, while more than three-quarters of new roles were in government-funded industries like health and education, where productivity has collapsed to 2001 levels, new data shows.

The jobs market has proven remarkably resilient to the most rapid interest rate tightening cycle in decades. The unemployment rate has held steady at close to 4 per cent for over a year, defying repeated predictions of an imminent rise in joblessness.