It was mostly in the part-time category, but employment growth in December was strong enough to cut the unemployment rate to an eight-month low and keep a February interest rate hike on the agenda.
The figures, reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, showed the seasonally adjusted number of people with jobs in December was 35,200, or 0.3 per cent, higher than in November.
If was the fourth increase of about that size in a row.
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With the proportion of the working-age population active in the labour market staying steady at 65.2 per cent, the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in December from 5.6 per cent in November.
November's figure was revised down from 5.7 per cent.
The jobless rate peaked at 5.8 per cent in June and was still there in October.
This represents a sharp divergence from widely-held expectations expressed at times last year, typified by the government's budget forecast that a peak of 8.5 per cent would be reached late this year.
The ABS's estimate of aggregate hours worked is fairly choppy from month to month in seasonally adjusted terms - rising by 0.9 per cent in September, falling by 0.1 per cent in October, rising 0.9 per cent in November then falling by 0.1 per cent again in December.
The trend is upward, however - the ABS estimates the trend in hours worked has risen every month from July, following 12 months of declines.
The board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets on February 2.
It will decide whether or not to raise interest rates after three moves of a quarter of a percentage point in October, November and December lifted the cash rate to 3.75 per cent.
Economic growth, as shown by the latest annual gross domestic product (GDP) rise of just 0.5 per cent over the year to September, remains sluggish.
But it seems clear that demand for labour in key areas boosted by the ongoing resources boom and fiscal stimulus measures has been enough to keep labour demand bubbling.
The central bank's decision on rates is likely to be "finely balanced", as the RBA described the choice it made in December.
But the labour force figures could tip the balance, by giving the board confidence that another increase would be unlikely to derail the recovery, especially as a move to four per cent would still leave policy on the stimulatory side of neutral.
