It wasn't the strongest set of jobs figures ever.
But in the run-up to a federal election, and when your main slogan is "jobs and growth", the result was gold for the Turnbull government.
Job figures released on Thursday - the last major economic report before the July 2 election - showed 17,900 people joined the workforce in May, keeping the unemployment rate steady at 5.7 per cent for a third month in a row.
But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was not about to take the result for granted.
"We cannot assume that the strong economy will always be there, we cannot assume that the jobs, the job growth of last month will be repeated next month," he said in address in Sydney.
Treasurer Scott Morrison said the monthly data was volatile but the latest figures continue to show a strong jobs performance.
"That is the key. When people have a job they have confidence. When they have confidence they are participating in the economy and they are spending," Mr Morrison later told reporters in a joint media conference with Mr Turnbull.
The numbers were pretty much as expected by economists, albeit with all the jobs growth being in part-time work.
Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James said the concentration in part-time positions was to be expected during an election campaign.
"Businesses want to see the election outcome before they commit to taking on more workers," he said.
The figures weren't all glowing with employment tumbling by 11,500 in South Australia, pushing the jobless rate there up to 6.9 per cent, the highest in the country.
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said this was the major concern in the figures for the manufacturing state.
"What the Abbott-Turnbull government has done over three years, it's failed to support manufacturing," Mr O'Connor told reporters in Adelaide.
Other data showed manufacturers more broadly are still benefiting from a strong upswing in new home building and a fall in the Australian dollar.
However, the latest Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Westpac industrial trends survey shows the expansion in the sector over the past two years is beginning to slow.
"The results signal that all parties in the election campaign need to strengthen confidence in the manufacturing sector so that the positive sentiment of recent surveys is continued," the Australian Chamber's boss James Pearson says.
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