The Australian dollar is back above US77c today after better than expected job figures indicated the economy may be back on track.

At 1.59pm (AEDT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US77.04c up from Us76.53c in yesterday’s trading.

Data our earlier today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the jobless rate rate fell to 5.7 percent in July, down from 5.8 per cent in June, while the total number of new jobs created jumped 26,200, well above expectations for a figure of 11,000.

The only downside was that the gains were made in the part time job sector with an increase of 71,600 while the full time sector fell by 45,400.

“July’s labour market figures were much better than expected and forward looking indicators suggest the labour market should continue to remain healthy,” noted Capital Economics assistant economist Kate Hickie.

“However, given that part-time positions accounted for all of the new jobs created in July there is probably still a decent amount of spare capacity in the labour market, which means that wage growth is likely to remain subdued.” she added.

The news gave the Australian dollar a much needed boost after yesterday’s minutes meeting from the US Federal Reserve which showed that there is still a real possibility that there will be a rate rise in the US next month.

The release saw the Aussie dollar plummet and threatening to break down through the US76c mark.

With the employment market looking healthy there may be further gains ahead for the Australian dollar which may force the Reserve Bank of Australia to consider an interest rate cut at next month’s board meeting