In the growth years of the first decade of the 21st century, jobs growth in Australia absorbed population increase to the extent that unemployment rates fell to levels not seen for fifty years.

Then in the last year of the decade -- when we confronted the world's greatest economic jolt since the great depression -- jobs levels in Australia held up better than those in any other developed nation on earth.

Consider this: in the decade between December 1999 and December 2009, the US economy finished with a mere 400,000 additional jobs.

By contrast, for the same period, Australia ended with an additional 2 million jobs.

In other words, the Australian economy ended up with five times more additional jobs at the end of the decade than did the US economy.

This is extraordinary when you consider that the USA has 308 million people compared with Australia's 22 million.

The ongoing growth potential of the Australian economy means that a lot of the outcry about Australia's current level of migration intake borders on the hysterical.

Migration feeds economic growth. New, young workers from overseas add vital skills to our otherwise small workforce. These workers also have high rates of family formation. New migrants buy new houses. They have children quickly. And these feed the nation's economic growth.

Australia's extraordinary jobs growth over the last decade also shows the benefits of a diversified economy.

Sure, the mining industry has been a good earner over the decade, reflected in strong rates of economic growth in Western Australia and Queensland.

But so too the manufacturing and professional and business services sectors in NSW and Victoria have performed excellently by world standards over many years.

The task now is to ensure jobs growth continues for the next decade. Obviously - as our PM reminds us often - ongoing improvements in labour productivity are important to feed this growth.

But so too, in a decade where for the first time ever a majority of the world's people lives in cities, jobs growth will come from the capacity of our cities to function as quality places to live and work, and for firms to invest in new ventures.

In this context, a key task for governments is to ensure the infrastructure of our cities is world class.

In this respect, as we all know, there is much to be done.

Phillip O'Neill is Professor and Director, Urban Research Centre, The University of Western Sydney