Business confidence has risen for the second month in a row to be above its five-year average – an optimistic sign for jobs and economic growth.

As fears continue to circulate around the transition from the resources jobs boom to other sectors, the Roy Morgan Business Confidence index has jumped to 119.3, its highest level since November 2014.

This increase comes despite less impressive growth in the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index, which has remained flat since rising sharply after Malcolm Turnbull become Prime Minister.

Norman Morris, industry communications director, Roy Morgan Research commented: “It is a potentially good sign for the economy … There are some tentative signs that increased confidence in some sectors will help make up for the decline in mining.

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“In October there was an increase in confidence in retail, finance and insurance, rental/hiring/ real estate, education/training, wholesale trade and information/media/telecommunications. The all-important construction sector showed some decline as did manufacturing.”

Mr Morris said: “In the three weeks before Malcolm Turnbull was elected by the party-room as PM, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was 104.2. Over the following three weeks it averaged 115.5, and it has now risen to 119.3.

“The challenge for the Federal Government is to continue to boost business confidence by delivering a clear and credible plan for the economy and showing that it is acting to implement the plan.”

The boost in confidence was not uniform across the nation, with Victoria most confident, followed by New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.