Traditional letter delivery business
Despite a drop in its traditional letter delivery business, Australia Post registered a $241 million net profit the past year due to its shift to parcel delivery which rides on the boom in online shopping. REUTERS

* Vacancies, outlook indicator point to further job growth

* Manufacturing job growth outpaces rise in service sector

Swiss employment rose further in the fourth quarter, spurred by new manufacturing jobs, and was set to increase more in 2011, a boon to consumer spending.

Swiss non-farm payrolls rose 1.2 percent year-on-year to 4.085 million, the Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday. Employment in the industrial sector rose 1.4 percent while in the services sector it grew 1.1 percent.

As in the two previous quarters all forward-looking indicators are pointing to a positive tendency in the next quarter, the office said in a statement.

Strong consumer spending helped Switzerland weather the recession better than many other countries and also added to a quick and robust recovery.

Unemployment has fallen since the middle of last year to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 3.5 percent in January and consumer spending is set to remain healthy, a rise in the first-quarter consumer sentiment index showed.

(Editing by Toby Chopra)

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