A DECADE IN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY

This release marks 10 years of industry estimates based on the 2006 version of Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) (cat. no. 1292.0), with the full time series expressed in current prices. Information in the Economic Activity Survey (EAS) is collected from both private and public non-financial corporations and as such represents an important insight into the financial performance and economic contribution of Australian business entities covering the time period from 2006-07 to 2015-16. There are some exclusions from the EAS, such as the Financial and insurance services industry and most of the General government sector. For more information on scope see the Explanatory Notes.

The decade from 2006-07 to 2015-16 was characterised by an economic backdrop that included: the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the Mining investment boom, the ongoing decline of traditional Manufacturing and the growing importance of service oriented industries.


KEY INDUSTRY DATA OVER TIME

The following graph shows each industry division and its contribution to key data items for comparison over the time period of 2006-07 to 2015-16.



KEY FINDINGS

In 2006-07 the top three industries for employment were Retail trade (1,184,000 people), Manufacturing (1,005,000 people) and Construction (973,000 people). Both Retail trade (1,321,000 people) and Construction (1,040,000 people) had retained their relative positions as at 2015-16, whereas Manufacturing industry employment had dropped by 167,000 people, resulting in its ranking declining to sixth place. The second largest contributor in 2015-16 for employment was private sector Health care and social assistance which had grown by 42.5% to 1,106,000 people.

Throughout most of the decade the top three industries for sales and service income were Wholesale trade, Manufacturing and Retail trade. This changed in 2015-16 when Construction sales and service income ($373b) overtook Manufacturing ($371.5b). Businesses in the private sector Education and training industry experienced the largest rate of increase in sales and service income at 93.3% over the 10 year period to 2015-16.

In terms of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the Mining industry consistently had the largest contribution throughout the decade to 2015-16, peaking in 2010-11 at $90.7b. The largest growth rate in EBITDA over the decade was experienced by businesses in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry, increasing by 152.9% to $21.2b by 2015-16. In terms of operating profit before tax (OPBT), the Rental, hiring and real estate services industry overtook Mining in 2014-15, and was again the largest contributor to OPBT in 2015-16 at $63.7b. The OPBT measure, in contrast to EBITDA, includes the impact of such items as the revaluation of assets, profit and loss on the sale of assets and foreign exchange rates.