The latest jobs figures suggest the Reserve Bank won't be matching the US central bank's decision to lift its key interest rate any time soon.  The Australian jobless rate unexpectedly ticked up to a four-month high of 5.7 per cent, ending a steady decline since January.  While employment did rise in November, it's been a mediocre performance over the past six months.  The new figures come just a week after data showed the economy suffered its worst performance since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.  "No wonder the Australian people do not believe Malcolm Turnbull when he talks about jobs and growth," opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.  Employment Minister Michaelia Cash latched on to the 39,100 rise in the number of people employed and an increase in the participation rate, which indicates more people are looking for work.  "Australians are out there, they are encouraged by the economy and putting their hands up and saying 'We are prepared to look for jobs'," she told reporters in Perth.  About 85,000 full-time jobs had been created in the past two months, reversing the recent trend towards casual workers, but which has left many people searching for additional hours of work.  The quarterly under-employment rate declined to 8.3 per cent from 8.7 per cent in August, but that still left more than one million people seeking additional employment.  Macquarie Research economist James McIntyre estimated the average pace of jobs growth over the past six months at just 8300, about half the pace required to keep the unemployment rate in check.  Despite this subdued jobs growth and last week's surprise contraction in economic growth, financial markets at this stage see little chance of the Reserve Bank moving the cash rate for some time.  But Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan concedes there are still downside risks.  "So if the next move was to occur, it'll probably be down, I think," he told reporters in Canberra.  In contrast, the US Federal Reserve hiked its federal funds rate for only the second time in a decade on Wednesday with the expectation of three more increases next year, sending the Australian dollar reeling.  Treasurer Scott Morrison was unfazed by the decision.  "It has been the probably most anticipated and expected decision that we have seen from the Fed Reserve for some time," Mr Morrison told reporters on the Gold Coast.  There was some much-needed positive news locally with a new survey suggesting manufacturers are heading into 2017 in an upbeat mood.  The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Westpac industrial trends survey for the December quarter found manufacturers buoyed by new home building activity and a lower currency fuelling exports.  That's giving them the confidence to lift investment intentions.
Official labour force figures for November are released on Thursday, the last major data before Monday's mid-year budget review and the Christmas break.