Yes, the Australian labour market is weak.
Economic growth figures have been saying since mid-2012 that it ought to be weak.
Surveys of jobs vacancies and business hiring intentions have been saying it for many months.
The official labour force figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have been saying it for the past year or so.
And they said it again on Thursday.
The unemployment rate was steady, the figures showed, at 5.8 per cent after seasonal adjustment.
But at 5.8453 per cent before rounding it was only a hair's breadth away from a three-and-a-half-year high of 5.9 per cent.
The number of people employed dropped by 22,600 in December to its lowest ebb since March.
Through the whole of 2013, the number of people with jobs rose by just 54,600.
The last time such a small rise was recorded over a 12-month span was in the year to October 2009.
That was the year immediately following October 2008, the month that the global financial crisis erupted with a vengeance and threw the world economy into recession.
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