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Higher interest rates are yet to make a serious dent in Australia's jobs market, which recorded a larger-than-expected surge in employment last month.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that about 65,000 people found work in August, well above the 25,000 lift expected by economists.

The jobless rate held steady at 3.7 per cent for the second consecutive month, marking the 18th month in a row of an unemployment rate below four per cent.

The participation rate, which measures the percentage of Australians either in a job or looking for one, ticked up to 67 per cent.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said together with the 64.5 per cent employment to population ratio, the record participation rate reflected a still-tight jobs market.

He also said the 65,000 increase in employment in the month came after a small drop in July, which coincided with the school holiday period.

"Looking over the past two months, the average employment growth was around 32,000 people per month, which is similar to the average growth over the past year," he said.

Monthly hours were down 0.5 per cent in August, but continue to grow faster than the increase in employment.

Mr Jarvis said this pointed to a large amount of work that needed doing and people continuing to work more hours in response.

BDO economics partner Anders Magnusson said increasing hours worked per employee and high rates of multiple job holdings cast a shadow over the solid labour force numbers.

"With costs rising more quickly than wages, Australians are working more jobs and longer hours to make ends meet," he said.

But Treasurer Jim Chalmers said more Australians were in work than ever before, and the participation rate was at a record high.

"This is a tremendous result and a testament to the resilience of the Australian economy and the Australian people," Dr Chalmers said.

But he warned the labour market would start to slow as high interest rates, high but moderating inflation and continuing global uncertainty - particularly the slowdown in China - weighed on the economy.

Oxford Economics Australia head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the data set neither confirmed nor denied whether the labour market was starting to respond to monetary tightening.

"Firms are still adding to headcount, and with job vacancies still elevated, employment growth will likely hold steady in the coming months," Mr Langcake said.

He said the data would not move the needle for the RBA, which has kept the interest rates on hold for three months in a row.

The group is not expecting more interest rate hikes in the current cycle.

The central bank has been watching for too much strength in the jobs market that could keep consumers spending and exert upward pressure on wages.

© AAP 2023

Pilbara GP Sonia Henry has seen young people die of strokes, teenagers with heart disease, and children who have lost their hearing after untreated ear infections.

"We need to do so much better in giving remote Australians back what they give to us," Dr Henry told the Regional Australia Institute's national summit in Canberra on Thursday.

"Particularly in Western Australia, the mining companies' profits are huge, but the people who live there aren't seeing that."

Dr Henry, who has spent years working in remote WA and western NSW, said city-based specialists should serve up to four weeks in the bush every year, easing the burden on young rural doctors and medical students.

"Once I saw the things I saw out there, I could never unsee them and I could never just go back to work in Sydney with my eyes closed," the doctor and author said.

"You see this great beauty and you see this enormous suffering and that has changed my life."

The regional think tank's annual national conference has heard from leaders across politics, business, local government and technology exploring ways to help growing country areas prosper.

The organisation this week released a progress report on its policy ambitions to support a regional population of 11 million by 2032.

It showed an incremental improvement in the number of full-time medical practitioners in the regions, from 323 per 100,000 residents in 2020 to 334 in 2021.

National Rural Health Alliance chief executive Susi Tegen said there were promising moves in the sector, like greater collaboration between state and federal governments.

But research by the alliance, whose members include medical colleges, Aboriginal health organisations and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, revealed there was a $6.5 billion annual spending shortfall in rural health.

"That means that population of seven million people is not receiving the health care they deserve," Ms Tegen said.

"It's time that rural communities around Australia actually stand up and go ... 'We want our money'."

The Australian Medical Association is set to release plans for building the rural workforce, recognising a city-centric healthcare model doesn't work in the country.

President Steve Robson used the analogy of the train journey between Brisbane and Longreach, in outback Queensland, to demonstrate health inequity.

"At every major stop, your life expectancy drops by a year by the time we get to Longreach," Professor Robson said.

"We know that burden of chronic disease for Australians increases as you go further and further out of our major centres and your access to healthcare drops.

"These are the things we have to address ... having great health services in regions is what builds confidence makes people want to stay."

© AAP 2023

Australia's jobless rate has held firm at 3.7 per cent for the second consecutive month.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data for August shows the number of unemployed people fell by 3000 as the economy added roughly 65,000 jobs.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the large increase in employment in the month came after a small drop in July, which coincided with the school holiday period.

"Looking over the past two months, the average employment growth was around 32,000 people per month, which is similar to the average growth over the past year," he said.

The participation rate, which measures the percentage of Australians either in a job or looking for one, reached a new record high of 67 per cent in August.

Mr Jarvis said together with the 64.5 per cent employment to population ratio, the participation rate reflected a still-tight jobs market.

Monthly hours worked fell 0.5 per cent in August, which followed a 0.2 per cent lift in July.

Economists had expected the unemployment rate to sink again and job numbers to rise after a surprisingly weak result in July.

The July numbers were largely read as a new pattern emerging as school holidays influenced the timing of when people usually took leave and started new roles, rather than a true shift in labour market dynamics.

Australia has been experiencing an extremely tight jobs market, with the unemployment rate stuck well below four per cent for several months in a row.

But eventually, the Reserve Bank of Australia's battle against high inflation is expected to nudge the jobless rate higher.

The central bank's string of interest rate hikes since May last year are aimed at slowing the economy by making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to spend, weighing on firm's hiring decisions.

© AAP 2023