The economy added a blockbuster 116,500 jobs in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday, almost triple the increase of 40,0000 new jobs that economists had expected.

The bumper result brought the jobless rate to 3.7 per cent, far short of a 4 per cent reading that economist had predicted.

Bolstering the fall in the unemployment rate was an uptick in the participation rate — the share of Australia’s working aged population in work, or looking for work — which rose to a near-record high of 66.7 per cent.

As more Australian’s started new jobs, took on extra hours, and returned from Summer holidays, the number of hours worked soared by 53 million hours, or 2.8 per cent, to 1.9bn hours.

The Reserve Bank’s own forecasts predict the unemployment rate will rise to 4.2 per cent by year’s end.

More to come.