1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/01/2005   
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Contents >> Communications and information technology >> Economic contribution of the communication services industries

The communication services industries encompass telecommunication services, and postal and courier services. These industries comprise the Communication Services Division of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

The Australian national accounts provide some statistics about the communication services industries including a measure of its overall contribution to the total level of economic activity in Australia, gross domestic product (GDP). These are presented in table 23.1. The chain volume measure of gross value added by the communication services industries increased by 6% from 2001-02 to 2002-03, which was an improvement on the previous year's increases of 3% for the year to 2001-02 and 1% for the year to 2000-01. However, these recent annual increases are below those experienced in the late-1990s, which were regularly showing around 10% annual growth.


23.1 COMMUNICATION SERVICES INDUSTRIES, Gross value added(a)

Units
1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03

At current prices(b)
Value
$m
17,157
18,087
18,159
18,799
19,163
19,994
Change from previous period
%
9.9
5.4
0.4
3.5
1.9
4.3
Chain volume measures(c)
Value
$m
15,858
17,583
18,459
18,607
19,163
20,378
Change from previous period
%
10.7
10.9
5.0
0.8
3.0
6.3
Contribution to GDP
%
2.6
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.8

(a) The value of output at basic prices minus the value of intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in the incidence of commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of industries.
(b) Estimates valued at the prices of the period to which the observation relates.
(c) Estimates revalued to remove the direct effects of changes in prices over time. The reference year for chain volume measures is 2001-02.

Source: Australian System of National Accounts, 2002-03 (5204.0).


Total factor income is that part of the cost of producing the GDP which consists of gross payments to factors of production (labour and capital) and is equal to the sum of compensation of employees, gross operating surplus and gross mixed income. Examination of the total factor income for the communication services industries shows changes in the share of income accruing to labour (i.e. compensation of employees) compared with the share accruing to capital (i.e. gross operating surplus and gross mixed income). Graph 23.2 shows how the shares accruing to labour and capital for the communication services industries have changed since 1996-97.

Graph 23.2: COMMUNICATION SERVICES INDUSTRIES TOTAL FACTOR INCOME(a)




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