Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product

• For a breakdown of key information from this and other recent economic releases, see Ten facts of the Australian Economy in September quarter 2024.

Unless otherwise stated all figures are in seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures.

The reference year for chain volume measures is 2022-23.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose 0.3% in the September quarter, the twelfth consecutive quarter of growth. Government spending and public capital investment were the main drivers of GDP growth. Through the year, Australia’s economy grew 0.8%, the lowest rate since the COVID-19 affected December quarter 2020.

Nominal GDP rose 0.4%. The GDP implicit price deflator (IPD) rose 0.1%, as a rise in the domestic final demand deflator (+0.7%) was partly offset by a fall in the terms of trade (-2.5%). High construction prices and skilled labour shortages kept domestic prices elevated, although the rate of price growth has gradually slowed. 

The terms of trade fell due to lower export prices (-2.6%), the third consecutive quarterly fall. Weakness in global bulk commodity prices was driven by a fall in demand, particularly from China for metallurgical coal and iron ore for steel manufacturing. Import prices (-0.1%) also fell, in line with lower oil prices. 

Domestic final demand contributed 0.6 percentage points to GDP growth.

The public sector supported domestic demand through government expenditure (+0.3ppt) and public investment (+0.3ppt). Private demand through household consumption and business investment were weak and had no contribution to GDP growth. 

Net trade contributed 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth as imports (-0.3%) fell and exports (+0.2%) rose.

Changes in inventories detracted 0.4 percentage points from GDP growth, as a drawdown in inventories followed a buildup in the June quarter. Mining inventories were rundown as exports exceeded production during the quarter. Retail Trade inventories were rundown as subdued household demand saw previously imported stocks not replenished, particularly in clothing, household items and motor vehicles. 

Government consumption increased 1.4%. State and local general government expenditure (+2.2%) led the rise as additional state-based energy bill relief schemes were implemented in the quarter. The Federal energy bill relief fund was also extended and expanded from July 2024. Other social benefits to households such as NDIS and aged care saw subdued growth in the September quarter.

National non-defence expenditure (+0.9%) also contributed to the rise, with rises in employee and non-employee expenses as several large agencies had received additional funding to improve and expand service delivery required to meet demand.

Public investment (+6.3%) increased after three quarters of falls. General government investment rose though imports of defence equipment and investment in hospital and road projects. Investment by state and local public corporations also contributed to the rise with increased activity across states on major road and renewable projects. 

Private investment (+0.1%) increased modestly driven by dwelling construction through improvement in work done on new home commencements. This follows the recent period of construction bottlenecks due to labour and materials shortages. Ownership transfer costs (+1.6%) rose due to continued turnover in the property market. 

Non-dwelling construction (-2.7%) partly offset the rise, although remained at elevated levels with recent investment in warehouses and data centres.

Household consumption (0.0%) was unchanged from the previous quarter.

Essential spending fell 0.1% led by a strong fall in electricity, gas and other fuels (-16.7%). The fall is from reduced underlying demand for heating from milder winter conditions, combined with expansion of energy bill relief schemes which reduced household electricity bills. Slightly offsetting the fall are the other essential categories, including rent and other dwelling services (+0.4%) and health (+0.8%), which remain among the top contributors to household consumption, in line with continued population growth. 

Discretionary spending rose 0.1% led by clothing and footwear (+2.2%). Spending by Australian travellers overseas also contributed to growth in tourism categories including hotels, cafes and restaurants, and recreation and culture.

Net trade contributed 0.1ppt to GDP growth as imports (-0.3%) fell and exports (+0.2%) grew modestly.

Growth in exports was due to a rise in goods (+0.9%) led by coal exports. Increased demand for cooling drove demand for thermal coal in Asian markets such as Japan. Exports of services (-3.6%) partly offset the rise through a fall in education related travel, as international student arrivals fell below the September quarter average. 

The fall in imports was led by goods (-1.5%). Imports of consumption goods fell as weaker household demand for electric vehicles saw a decrease in imports of non-industrial transport equipment. Imports of services (+3.0%) partly offset the falls, driven by travel services as Australian residents spent more time overseas in European countries.

Gross value added (GVA) rose 0.3% this quarter, with rises in 11 out of 19 industries.

The three non-market industries all contributed to GDP with strong growth in the September quarter. Public Administration and Safety (+1.3%) rose driven by increased activity in the public sector. Health Care and Social Assistance (+1.2%) rose driven by continued increase in GP attendance during an adverse flu season.

GVA was mixed across the market sector industries with Mining being the largest detractor from a fall in iron ore mining as site maintenance and shutdowns hampered production. Agriculture was the largest contributor, driven by livestock from increased meat export demand and grains from favourable weather conditions in cropping regions. Construction also contributed to the rise, aligned with strength in public infrastructure projects and dwelling investment.

Gross operating surplus (GOS) fell 1.5%. Private non-financial corporations (-3.9%) led the fall as Mining operating surplus (-9.1%) declined for a third consecutive quarter. Mining commodity prices fell across coal, mineral ores and other mineral fuels due to softer global demand, largely attributable to weakness in the Chinese construction sector reducing demand for steel manufacturing. 

Non-mining industries fell slightly in response to decreased activity, lower sales revenue and higher operating expenses for industries including Wholesale Trade, Professional Scientific and Technical Services and Manufacturing. 

Financial corporations GOS (+1.1%) rose with growth in loan and deposit balances, while margins narrowed. Increased loan balances were driven by dwelling loans for owner-occupier and investor mortgages consistent with recent strength in housing loan commitments. Deposit balances rose as tax refunds were deposited into high interest saving and offset accounts. 

Dwellings owned by persons GOS increased 2.6%, reflecting population growth and low vacancy rates.

Compensation of employees (COE) increased 1.4%. The labour market remained tight with the unemployment rate at 4.1%, and increasing hours worked (+0.8%). Full-time employment increased 1.2%, outpacing part-time employment growth for the first time since September quarter 2023. However, Wage Price Index growth slowed from the September quarter 2023 peak, providing an indication that conditions may be softening. 

Private COE (+1.2%) led the rise, with increases in wages, bonuses, headcounts and new enterprise agreements in industries including Information Media and Telecommunications, Construction, Financial and Insurance Services. Public COE rose 2.0%, from an increased workforce across a number of government agencies, aligned with improvement and expansion of services delivery. Wage rises for the Victorian and Queensland public service, related to health and education, also contributed to the rise in public COE.

The household saving to income ratio rose to 3.2%, as growth in gross disposable income outpaced growth in nominal household consumption. 

Gross disposable income rose 1.5% as gross income rose and income payable fell. Compensation of employees (+1.3%) remained the main source of growth in gross income. A fall in income tax (-3.8%), which included the implementation of the Stage 3 tax cuts from 1 July 2024, drove the fall in income payable.

Nominal household final consumption expenditure (+0.6%) detracted from household saving as prices for essential services including rent and insurance continued to rise.

There are revisions in this issue due to the incorporation of more up-to-date data and concurrent seasonal adjustment.

This issue also includes re-referencing of chain volume measure (CVM) estimates to the 2022-23 financial year. This in isolation will only affect levels of CVM estimates, generally leaving growth rates unchanged. Re-referencing can have an impact on CVM GDP growth (and other estimates) for the latest financial year (2023–24) if there are significant relative price changes between 2021-22 and 2022-23.

This issue includes revisions to used asset transfers between the public and private sectors due to the redistribution of annual estimates of developer contributions over the quarterly periods. Developer contributions are transfers from the private sector to assist local councils, state governments, and public non-financial corporations to fund essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply and drainage. These estimates have been smoothed to more accurately recognise the underlying economic activity across the year as it occurred. The key series impacted are net purchases of second-hand assets in non-dwelling construction for private gross fixed capital formation, and state and local general government gross fixed capital formation.

Revisions have occurred in the following estimates

• Quarterly estimates of private gross fixed capital formation including total non-dwelling construction, total private business investment, and total capital formation
• Quarterly estimates of public gross fixed capital formation including general government – state and local, total general government, and total public capital formation

The implementation of this change has led to revisions from September quarter 2003 to June quarter 2024. While this change has revised the distribution of the annual estimates across the quarters, it has not directly impacted the level or movement of the annual estimates. As used asset transfers between the public and private sectors are offsetting, there is no impact on GDP.

From September quarter 2024, developer contributions will continue to be reported on a smoothed basis throughout each financial year, with annual levels and movements continuing to be updated during annual processing.

The estimates in this issue incorporate the 2022-23 annual supply and use tables. The supply and use tables incorporate revisions reflecting changes in methods, concepts, classifications and data sources. For more information on the role of supply and use tables in the national accounts and the major revisions, please see the Revisions and changes section in Australian System of National Accounts. 

The estimates in this issue incorporate changes from the 2023-24 historical revisions. The 2024 round of revisions incorporated two major historical revision improvements: 

• Improvements to the measurement of digital services
• Film and Television 2021-22 Flexible Survey capital estimates

For more information, please read Impacts from the 2024 Annual National Accounts historical revisions.

Trend estimates for all series in the National Accounts were suspended from June 2019 due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy. Over the intervening period, national accounts time series were significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in economic activity.

With the reinstatement of concurrent adjustment across all national accounts time series, the ABS plans to review national accounts trend series with a view to reinstating trend data in the future.

On 23 November 2023 the ABS announced that it would cease the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade publication in 2025 once it has transitioned to new data sources. More information can be found in the Cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication article.

In the Australian National Accounts (ANA), a wave approach is being used to transition between Retail Business Survey data and administrative data sources. This approach gradually phases out the use of Retail Trade in Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) estimates as outlined in Figure 1. In each wave, bank transactions data and other administrative sources will be used in future outputs, but will not introduce revisions to the back series.

The October 2024 issue of the Monthly Household Spending Indicator will be released on 5 December 2024. The experimental Monthly Household Spending Indicator is derived using aggregated, de-identified banks transactions data from some of Australia’s banking and financial institutions. The ABS transforms the banks transactions data in order to derive the Monthly Household Spending Indicator. As this data is not designed for statistical purposes, its scope varies from Australian National Accounts concept of household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) and the Retail Trade turnover estimates for retail businesses. The indicator should be considered experimental at this stage, as further enhancement to the transformation processes and methodology are expected in the future.

The September quarter 2024 issue of Australian National Accounts: Finance and Wealth will be released on 19 December 2024. This publication includes the quarterly household balance sheets with an estimate of net worth. It also provides quarterly estimates of the financial flows and balance outstanding between sectors and various sub-sectors of the domestic economy and with the rest of the world. Other key estimates within the publication include the financial instrument markets, demand for credit by non-financial domestic institutional sectors during the quarter, and their corresponding levels of credit outstanding and quarterly sectoral capital accounts (current price).

The 2023-24 issue of Estimates of Industry Multifactor Productivity will be released on 22 January 2025. It provides updated estimates of multifactor productivity (MFP) for the 16 industries defined to comprise the market sector. Longer time series are produced for 12 selected industries. Also included are productivity growth cycles for market sector industries and selected industries aggregates back to 1998-99 and 1973-74, respectively. The release includes experimental estimates of productivity growth cycles for individual industries, sources of aggregate labour productivity growth and its industry origin. Experimental estimates of state productivity back to 1994-95 are also provided.

The 2022-23 issue of Estimates of Industry Level KLEMS Multifactor Productivity was released on 10 December 2024. Since 2016, the ABS has published estimates of industry level KLEMS MFP for the 16 market sector industries. The term KLEMS represents the five input categories - Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Materials (M) and Services (S). By explicitly identifying the role of intermediate inputs in the production process, KLEMS facilitates a more rigorous analysis of the determinants of output growth at the industry level. 

The 2023-24 issue of the Australian National Accounts: State Accounts was released on 20 November 2024. This publication provides detailed annual estimates of gross state product (GSP) for all states and territories. These are estimated using the expenditure, income and production approaches. Also published are estimates of household and agricultural incomes.

The 2023-24 issue of the Australian System of National Accounts was released on 25 October 2024. This publication provides detailed, annual estimates of Australia's national accounts. These include expenditure, income and production estimates of gross domestic product (GDP), productivity estimates, sectoral accounts (for households, financial and non-financial corporations, general government and the rest of the world), and additional aggregates dissected by industry. 

The 2022-23 issue of the Australian National Accounts: Supply Use Tables was released on 25 October 2024. The Supply Use tables were introduced in the annual National Accounts in 1998 as an integral part of the annual compilation of the Australian System of National Accounts. They are used to ensure Gross Domestic Product is balanced for all three approaches (production, expenditure and income) and provide the annual benchmarks from which the quarterly estimates are compiled.

This release previously used catalogue number 5206.0.

This updated release corrects errors identified on 5 December 2024 in the non-farm GDP and non-farm unit labour cost series located in tables 24 and 42. GDP has not been impacted by this correction. Farm GDP estimates published on Thursday 5 December are also unaffected by this correction.

The ABS has identified errors in the non-farm estimates published at 11:30am on the 5th December, including non-farm GDP and unit labour cost series. We advise users to not use these series, located in tables 24 and 42, until further notice. These errors do not impact total GDP, or farm GDP estimates.

The Farm and Non-Farm GDP series have been reinstated. The non-farm unit labour cost series (published 4 December) were not supressed, however contained errors. These series have been corrected.

The Financial Sector Income Account additivity error has been resolved.

Farm and Non-farm GDP

Reinstatement of temporarily suppressed Farm and Non-farm GDP related series. The reinstatement impacts the following tables and series:

Table 24. Selected Analytical Series (Trend, Seasonally Adjusted and Original) 

• Non-farm ;  Gross domestic product: Current prices ;
• Non-farm ;  Gross domestic product: Current prices ;
• Non-farm ;  Gross domestic product: Implicit price deflators ;
• Farm ;  Gross domestic product: Chain volume measures ;
• Farm ;  Gross domestic product: Current prices ;
• Farm ;  Gross domestic product: Implicit price deflators ;

Table 42. Unit Labour Costs (Trend, Seasonally Adjusted and Original)

• Unit labour cost - Nominal - Non-farm ;
• Unit labour cost - Nominal - Non-farm: Percentage changes ;
• Unit labour cost - Real - Non-farm ;
• Unit labour cost - Real - Non-farm: Percentage changes ;

Financial sector income accounts

Resolution of the financial sector income account additivity error, from September quarter 2009 to June quarter 2022. The resolution impacts the following tables:

Table 7. Income from Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Current prices

Table 11. National Income Account, Current prices

Table 13. Non-Financial Corporations Income Account, Current prices

Table 14. Private Non-Financial Corporations Income Account, Current prices

Table 16. Financial Corporations Income Account, Current prices

Table 35. Income from GDP and Changes in Inventories, Annual

For more information on these changes please contact: national.accounts@abs.gov.au