Australia’s employment streak has sustained itself for yet another month. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country’s economy added 14,200 jobs in April, well ahead of economists’ more conservative forecast of 8,800 jobs, and the fourth consecutive month of job gains.

In fact, over the past four months, overall employment has risen by 102,000 positions, with full-time employment accounting for more than 70 percent of the increase.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged, at 5.8 percent, which was one-tenth of a percentage point better than projected. However, the labor force participation rate declined by a tenth of a point, to 64.7 percent, just a tenth of a point off of the low for this cycle.

Also of note, the initial figure for March was revised higher, to a gain of 21,900 jobs from 18,100 jobs.

Full-time employment rose by 14,200 jobs, a stark contrast to last month’s contraction of 22,700 full-time jobs. Meanwhile, part-time employment was essentially flat after last month’s gain of 44,600 part-time jobs.

Full-time jobs are considered to be of higher quality than part-time jobs, since the latter tend to offer lower pay and less stability. Over the trailing year, full-time jobs have grown at an average 2,900 per month, while over the trailing six-month period the average has jumped to 10,600 positions per month. However, it should be noted that the latter number is skewed from February’s blockbuster gain of 80,900 full-time jobs.

Growth in part-time employment has averaged 7,600 jobs per month over the trailing year and 5,900 jobs per month over the trailing six months.

The rise in employment was also mirrored by another increase in job advertisements. According to ANZ Research, which tallies the numbers of jobs advertised each month in the major daily newspapers and websites that serve Australia’s capital cities, total job advertisements rose 2.2 percent in April.

This marked the fourth consecutive month of rising jobs postings. In 2013, by contrast, there was a decline in job postings in 10 of the 12 months that year. According to ANZ, job ads are now 1.5 percent higher than a year ago, which compares quite favorably to the year-over-year declines of nearly 20 percent that occurred toward the middle of last year.

The improving trajectory is also evident when comparing medium-term periods with shorter-term periods. Over the past three years, the number of jobs advertised has declined at an average rate of 0.7 percent per month. However, that number has shown progressively greater strength over the near term, with total jobs advertised growing by 0.1 percent per month over the trailing year and by 1.2 percent over the past six months.

According to ANZ, job listings have historically proved to be a very good indicator of future labor market conditions and are often employed extensively when forecasting employment growth. Additionally, an ABS study of job advertisements concluded that rising trends in this data series tend to lead peaks in employment growth by one to three quarters, while falling trends precede troughs in employment by zero to two quarters.

ANZ Chief Economist Ivan Colhoun said, “The pick-up in hiring intentions suggests employment growth will continue to improve modestly in the near term, and the unemployment rate should be close to a peak around 6 percent or slightly lower.”

The latest figures comport with a noteworthy shift in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest monetary policy statement, which noted, “There has been some improvement in indicators for the labor market, but it will probably be some time yet before unemployment declines consistently.”

The RBA’s previous statements asserted that the unemployment rate was likely to continue rising in the near term. So even Australia’s cautious central bank is finally seeing signs of a turn in the economy.

Portfolio Update

Conservative Holding APA Group’s (ASX: APA, OTC: APAJF) pursuit of fellow Conservative Portfolio constituent Envestra Ltd (ASX: ENV, OTC: EVSRF) just got more complicated. At the same time, from the standpoint of Envestra’s shareholders, the situation just got a bit sweeter.

Just days before Envestra’s shareholders were set to vote on APA’s AUD2 billion offer, Cheung Kong Group, a Hong Kong-based consortium controlled by Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing, swooped in with its own AUD1.87 billion all-cash offer to buy the 82.54 percent of Envestra’s shares it doesn’t already own.

Given Cheung Kong’s existing 17.46 percent stake in Envestra, the company’s offer values the firm at about AUD2.37 billion. The new offer of AUD1.32 per share is a 16.8 percent premium to Envestra’s closing price of AUD1.13 on May 7, just prior to the offer and the halt in trading of the company’s shares.

Upon the resumption of trading, Envestra’s shares immediately jumped past the latest offer price, rising as high as AUD1.365, or 20.8 percent from where they had been trading prior to the offer.

The new higher offer is also at the precise upper threshold of the range that Grant Samuel & Associates, which had been appointed by Envestra’s board to evaluate APA’s earlier offer, had determined would represent the company’s full underlying value, including a premium for control.

At the time, Grant Samuel had ruled that APA’s offer of 0.1919 securities per share of Envestra, which it had then assigned a value of AUD1.15 to AUD1.25 per share, was “fair and reasonable and, therefore, in the best interests of Envestra shareholders . . . ”

As of the May 7 close, APA’s bid was equivalent to AUD1.30 per share based on its last price that day.

Although a majority of the members of Envestra’s board considered APA’s offer to be in the best interest of shareholders, the two Cheung Kong-affiliated directors had previously recommended that shareholders vote against the acquisition.

In documentation sent to shareholders, they pointed to the greater risk profile involved with APA’s business and criticized the small premium that the pipeline giant is offering for the gas distributor, which has about 1.2 million customers and thousands of kilometers of pipelines and distribution networks.

One potential wrinkle for Cheung Kong’s offer is that it would have to be approved by the government’s Foreign Investment Review Board, though the Hong Kong consortium has previously acquired several Australian infrastructure firms. Additionally, APA remains Envestra’s single largest shareholder, with a 33.05 percent stake.

For now, Envestra is reconstituting its Independent Board Committee, which would exclude the APA- and CKI-nominated directors, to weigh the new bid against the existing offer.

Goldman Sachs is acting as financial adviser and Johnson Winter & Slattery is acting as legal adviser to Envestra.

APA Group is a buy below USD6.50, while Envestra remains a hold.