Australia’s jobless rate has held firm at 3.7 per cent for the second consecutive month.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data for August shows the number of unemployed people fell by 3000 as the economy added roughly 65,000 jobs.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the large increase in employment in the month came after a small drop in July, which coincided with the school holiday period.

“Looking over the past two months, the average employment growth was around 32,000 people per month, which is similar to the average growth over the past year,” he said.

The participation rate, which measures the percentage of Australians either in a job or looking for one, reached a new record high of 67 per cent in August.

Mr Jarvis said together with the 64.5 per cent employment to population ratio, the participation rate reflected a still-tight jobs market.

Monthly hours worked fell 0.5 per cent in August, which followed a 0.2 per cent lift in July.

Economists had expected the unemployment rate to sink again and job numbers to rise after a surprisingly weak result in July.

The July numbers were largely read as a new pattern emerging as school holidays influenced the timing of when people usually took leave and started new roles, rather than a true shift in labour market dynamics.

Australia has been experiencing an extremely tight jobs market, with the unemployment rate stuck well below four per cent for several months in a row.

But eventually, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s battle against high inflation is expected to nudge the jobless rate higher.

The central bank’s string of interest rate hikes since May last year are aimed at slowing the economy by making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to spend, weighing on firm’s hiring decisions.