Business Conditions and Sentiments

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Insights into Australian business conditions and sentiments.

Reference period

March 2021

Released

25/03/2021

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Key statistics

46% of businesses expect it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments over the next three months, compared to 23% in August 2020.
29% of businesses are accessing support compared to 73% in May 2020.
19% of businesses expect to increase staff numbers over the next three months.

This publication was previously named Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19.

In responding to the survey, businesses are asked to provide a best estimate only, without accessing records or reports.

Business size categories used in this release:

Small (0-19 persons employed);
Medium (20-199 persons employed); and
Large (200 or more persons employed).

For information on survey sample, response rates and the questionnaire, see Methodology.

Changes in revenue

Businesses reported on changes in revenue over the last month and expected changes over the next month. This information has been collected each month since July 2020.

One in five (22%) businesses reported decreased revenue in March and 8% of businesses expect decreased revenue in April.

Reported and expected decrease in revenue, July 2020 to April 2021 (a)(b)
	Businesses reported a decrease in revenue (b)	Businesses expected a decrease in revenue (c)
July	47
August	41	27
September	38	28
October	31	14
November	22	14
December	20	10
January	31	27
February	28	13
March	22	10
April		8

Reported and expected decrease in revenue, July 2020 to April 2021 (a)(b)

["","Businesses reported a decrease in revenue (b)","Businesses expected a decrease in revenue (c)"]

[["July","August","September","October","November","December","January","February","March","April"],[[47],[41],[38],[31],[22],[20],[31],[28],[22],[null]],[[null],[27],[28],[14],[14],[10],[27],[13],[10],[8]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses
(b) Businesses reported changes over the last month
(c) Expectations for the indicated month as reported by businesses in the previous month of collection

Business ability to meet financial commitments

The proportion of businesses reporting they expect it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments over the next three months has doubled since August 2020 (46% compared to 23%).

Business ability to meet financial commitments over the next three months, August 2020 and March 2021 (a)(b)
	August 2020	March 2021
Easy or very easy	23	46
Neither easy nor difficult	39	30
Difficult or very difficult	35	17

Business ability to meet financial commitments over the next three months, August 2020 and March 2021 (a)(b)

["","August 2020","March 2021"]

[["Easy or very easy","Neither easy nor difficult","Difficult or very difficult"],[[23],[39],[35]],[[46],[30],[17]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses
(b) The sum of the component items does not equal 100% because businesses could respond "Dont know" or "Not applicable"

Businesses were most likely to expect it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments regardless of employment size.

Business ability to meet financial commitments over the next three months, by employment size (a)(b)
	Small businesses (%)	Medium businesses (%)	Large businesses (%)
Easy or very easy	46	39	52
Neither easy nor difficult	30	37	34
Difficult or very difficult	18	17	8

Business ability to meet financial commitments over the next three months, by employment size (a)(b)

["","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"]

[["Easy or very easy","Neither easy nor difficult","Difficult or very difficult"],[[46],[30],[18]],[[39],[37],[17]],[[52],[34],[8]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses
(b) The sum of the component items does not equal 100% because businesses could respond "Dont know" or "Not applicable"

Businesses expecting it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments over the next three months, by industry (a)
	Businesses expecting it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments (%)
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services	69
Financial and Insurance Services	58
Retail Trade	56
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	55
Administrative and Support Services	47
Transport, Postal and Warehousing	46
Construction	45
Mining	44
Health Care and Social Assistance	42
Manufacturing	40
Education and Training	38
Information Media and Telecommunications	37
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services	37
Other Services	35
Wholesale Trade	34
Arts and Recreation Services	24
Accommodation and Food Services	18

Businesses expecting it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments over the next three months, by industry (a)

["","Businesses expecting it to be easy or very easy to meet financial commitments"]

[["Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services","Financial and Insurance Services","Retail Trade","Professional, Scientific and Technical Services","Administrative and Support Services","Transport, Postal and Warehousing","Construction","Mining","Health Care and Social Assistance","Manufacturing","Education and Training","Information Media and Telecommunications","Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services","Other Services","Wholesale Trade","Arts and Recreation Services","Accommodation and Food Services"],[[69],[58],[56],[55],[47],[46],[45],[44],[42],[40],[38],[37],[37],[35],[34],[24],[18]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

Support measures accessed by businesses

Less than a third (29%) of businesses were accessing at least one support measure in March, compared to almost three quarters (73%) of businesses in May 2020.

The support measures most likely to be accessed by businesses were:

Wage subsidies (e.g. JobKeeper, Supporting Apprentices and Trainees) (21%); and
Renegotiated property rent/lease arrangements (6%).

Small businesses were less likely than medium and large businesses to be accessing support.

Support measures accessed by businesses, by employment size (a)
	Small businesses	Medium businesses	Large businesses
Wage subsidies	20	29	23
Renegotiated property rent/lease arrangements	6	12	12
Other government support measures	5	9	11
Deferred loan repayments	2	6	3
JobMaker Hiring Credit	1	4	4

Support measures accessed by businesses, by employment size (a)

["","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"]

[["Wage subsidies","Renegotiated property rent\/lease arrangements","Other government support measures","Deferred loan repayments","JobMaker Hiring Credit"],[[20],[6],[5],[2],[1]],[[29],[12],[9],[6],[4]],[[23],[12],[11],[3],[4]]]

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(a) Proportions are of all businesses

Expected actions when support measures are no longer available

Businesses accessing support also provided information on actions they expect to take when the support measures are no longer available.

Of the 29% of businesses that reported that they were accessing support, the most likely actions they expect to take once this support is no longer available are to:

Seek additional funds (21%);
Reduce staff hours (20%);
Change quantity of orders of inputs (e.g. stock, raw materials) (15%);
Defer or cancel investment plans (13%) and
Increase prices (13%).

Factors influencing number of employees

Nearly nine in ten (87%) employing businesses reported that, based on current operations, they have a sufficient number of employees. This is consistent with December 2020 results (83%).

Whether businesses have a sufficient number of employees (a)(b)
	Small businesses	Medium businesses	Large businesses	All businesses
	%	%	%	%
Business has sufficient employees	87	79	83	87
Business does not have sufficient employees	12	20	14	12
Don't know	1	0	3	1

(a) Proportions are of all businesses
(b) The sum of the components may not equal 100% due to rounding

Employing businesses that did not have a sufficient number of employees (12%, compared to 15% in December) reported on factors influencing the number of people they employed.

More than two thirds (68%) of these businesses reported that the main factor influencing the number of employees was the inability to find suitable staff. This compares to 60% in December.

Influencing factors for employing businesses with an insufficient number of employees, by employment size (a)
	All employing businesses	Small businesses	Medium businesses	Large businesses
Inability to find suitable staff	68	66	87	90
Uncertainty due to COVID-19	47	47	46	36
Affordability of additional staff	40	40	38	22
Availability of existing employees to work	29	26	49	41
Difficulty retaining staff	21	19	43	38
International border closures	19	18	24	52
Domestic border closures	15	14	24	16

Influencing factors for employing businesses with an insufficient number of employees, by employment size (a)

["","All employing businesses","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"]

[["Inability to find suitable staff","Uncertainty due to COVID-19","Affordability of additional staff","Availability of existing employees to work","Difficulty retaining staff","International border closures","Domestic border closures"],[[68],[47],[40],[29],[21],[19],[15]],[[66],[47],[40],[26],[19],[18],[14]],[[87],[46],[38],[49],[43],[24],[24]],[[90],[36],[22],[41],[38],[52],[16]]]

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(a) Proportions are of employing businesses with an insufficient number of employees

Future workforce actions

Top workforce actions employing businesses plan to take over the next three months (a)(b)(c)

Image

Description

Top workforce actions employing businesses plan to take over the next three months: - retrain existing staff (24%); - increase staff numbers (19%); - rearrange job roles and responsibilities (17%); - outsource work to a third party (16%); and - increase staff hours (13%)

Workforce actions businesses plan to take over the next three months, by employment size (a)(b)
	Small businesses (%)	Medium businesses (%)	Large businesses (%)
Retrain existing staff	23	39	42
Increase staff numbers	18	39	36
Rearrange job roles and responsibilities	16	33	30
Outsource work to a third party	16	12	13
Increase staff hours	13	16	15
Reduce staff hours	4	9	4
Reduce staff numbers	1	8	6

Workforce actions businesses plan to take over the next three months, by employment size (a)(b)

["","Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"]

[["Retrain existing staff","Increase staff numbers","Rearrange job roles and responsibilities","Outsource work to a third party","Increase staff hours","Reduce staff hours","Reduce staff numbers"],[[23],[18],[16],[16],[13],[4],[1]],[[39],[39],[33],[12],[16],[9],[8]],[[42],[36],[30],[13],[15],[4],[6]]]

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(a) Proportions are of employing businesses
(b) Businesses could select more than one response

Image

Description

Top workforce actions by top industries: - Retrain existing staff: Education and training (53%), Accommodation and food services (46%) and Arts and recreation services (37%); - Increase staff numbers: Education and training (38%), Health care and social assistance (34%), Administrative and support services (32%) and Arts and recreation services (32%) - Rearrange job roles and responsibilities: Accommodation and food services (34%); Health care and social assistance (33%) and Administrative and support services (30%).

Businesses planning to increase staff numbers

Medium and large businesses were twice as likely as small businesses to report they expect to increase staff numbers over the next three months (39% and 36% compared to 18%).

Businesses expecting to increase staff numbers over the next month and the next three months, by employment size (a)
	Over the next month	Over the next three months
Small businesses	8	18
Medium businesses	23	39
Large businesses	27	36

Businesses expecting to increase staff numbers over the next month and the next three months, by employment size (a)

["","Over the next month","Over the next three months"]

[["Small businesses","Medium businesses","Large businesses"],[[8],[23],[27]],[[18],[39],[36]]]

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(a) Proportions are of employing businesses

One in five (19%) employing businesses plan to increase staff numbers over the next three months. The majority of these businesses expect the increase in staff would be small (79%) and that most of the jobs would be permanent (58%).

Image

Composition and extent of increase in staff numbers

Description

19% of businesses plan to increase staff numbers over the next three months: - the extent of the increase is expected to be: small (79%), moderate (13%) or large (5%); and - jobs are expected to be: permanent (58%), casual (38%) and/or temporary / fixed term contract (20%).

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5676.0.55.003

Methodology

Business Conditions and Sentiments methodology, March 2021

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APA

Citation

Business Conditions and Sentiments

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Changes in revenue

Business ability to meet financial commitments

Support measures accessed by businesses

Expected actions when support measures are no longer available

Factors influencing number of employees

Future workforce actions

Top workforce actions employing businesses plan to take over the next three months (a)(b)(c)

Businesses planning to increase staff numbers

Data downloads

Data downloads

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Do you need more detailed statistics?

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Microdata and TableBuilder

Provide feedback

APA

Business Conditions and Sentiments

APA

Key statistics

Changes in revenue

Business ability to meet financial commitments

Support measures accessed by businesses

Expected actions when support measures are no longer available

Factors influencing number of employees

Future workforce actions

Top workforce actions employing businesses plan to take over the next three months (a)(b)(c)

Businesses planning to increase staff numbers

Data downloads

Data downloads

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Business outlook continues to improve

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder