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If the Reserve Bank was populated by scientists rather than economists, people in white coats would become a common sight on Sydney's streets in the months ahead, capturing local specimens to search for payslips and record the contents of their wallets.
Thursday's labour force statistics effectively declared Sydney the crucible for testing the theory that low unemployment can still cause wages growth.
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New South Wales' June trend unemployment rate was 4.75 per cent – which means Sydney's rate would be somewhat lower given the nature of higher unemployment in the regions.
At, say, 4.6 per cent, Sydney's unemployment rate is below the "about 5" generally quoted nowadays for NAIRU – the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment.
Well, that's the theory. The question is whether it stands up against chief financial officers still concentrating on cutting costs, whether a de-unionised private sector workforce is capable of demanding a bigger slice of the pie or even a steady proportion of an increased pie, whether the RBA-perceived threat of robots and foreigners will keep workers covered outside unionised construction and a few other hot spots.
The test – and the flipside of the "it would be nice to have stronger wages growth" mouthing by politicians – is when employers start stealing workers from their opposition by bidding more for them. When there are more private contractors than union members in full-time private sector jobs, it's not the Fair Work Commission that will do the real lifting.
That competition for labour eventually results in the losers - the employers not making enough money to pay more - failing.
Unless, of course, they can find other sources of labour or become more productive, getting by with fewer workers.
Part of the answer is in the apparent switch to more full-time jobs, which does indeed lift household incomes. It will be an interesting financial year as the closely observed experiment unfolds.
In any event, combined with the most recent NAB business conditions survey and the census' demographic reappraisal, the employment figures confirm the jobs-and-growth appeal of the Melbourne and Sydney "Big Smoke". And that in turn means continued demand for housing.
Employed people tend not to default on mortgages. For all the talking of mortgage stress, it's not showing up in default figures for the two crucial markets that are driving national policy.