About 50,000 Australians found work in December, bringing the official unemployment rate down to 6.6% from 6.8%.

Almost 90% of the jobs lost since March have been recovered, a sign that the labour market is staging a speedy recovery.

Speaking with Money News host Brooke Corte, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the jobless figures show the economy is heading in the right direction.

“We never said it would be easy as a government, but when you look at what Treasury and the RBA had forecast of between 7.5% and 8% unemployment in February, 6.6% is a much better outcome,” Senator Cash said.

The labour market will be tested in March when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme comes to an end, removing the lifeline keeping many businesses – and some entire sectors like Tourism and Hospitality –  afloat.

Senator Cash said JobKeeper was always a temporary measure.

“The economic support measures we have put in place are having dividends,” she said.

“We talk to our stakeholders every single day, and it’s not just one economic policy put in place, it’s a suite of economic policies put in place,”

Click play to hear the full interview: