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Engineering Construction Activity, Australia

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Contains value of engineering construction work done, commenced and yet to be done

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Reference period
December 2020
Released
31/03/2021
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Release date and time
31/03/2021 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

During the December quarter:

  • Seasonally adjusted work done fell 4.8%.
  • Seasonally adjusted work done for the private sector fell 1.8%.
  • Value of work commenced decreased 6.2% in original terms.

Value of work done

December key figures

 Dec Qtr 20 

Sep Qtr 20 to
Dec Qtr 20

Dec Qtr 19 to
Dec Qtr 20
$m% change% change

Seasonally adjusted estimates(a)

Value of work done   
 For the private sector13 150.7-1.82.8
 For the public sector(b)8 155.8-9.4-10.1
 Total engineering construction21 306.5-4.8-2.5

a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2018-19.
b. Includes work done by the private sector for the public sector and work done by the public sector.

Value of work done, chain volume measures

Total

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done fell 4.8% in the December quarter to $21,306.5m.

Private sector

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the private sector fell 1.8% in the December quarter to $13,150.7m.

Public sector

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the public sector fell 9.4% in the December quarter to $8,155.8m.

Value of work commenced, current prices

  • The value of work commenced in the December quarter was $17,645.5m in original terms, a decrease of 6.2% from the September quarter.

Data downloads

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Time series spreadsheets

Data files
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Data cubes

Data files

Notes

About this issue

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia (cat. no. 8755.0) on 16 February 2021.

Data note

This release includes revisions to Engineering Construction data back to September 2020.

Several time series spreadsheets for recent quarters contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.  

Mining projects tend to be complex in structure and comprise a number of different investment activities including exploration, engineering construction, plant and equipment and buildings. A feature article released in the March 2012 issue of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia (cat. no. 5625.0) provides a summary of the conceptual basis of the relevant ABS publications that measure investment in Australia, using a hypothetical mining project to illustrate how this investment is reflected in ABS data.

Managing the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on engineering construction statistics

The ABS is currently monitoring for potential impacts from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on construction activity statistics and will continue to do so for the period of the pandemic.

Quality assurance of December 2020 quarter data did not identify any significant impact to headline statistics. The designation of construction as an essential service enabled activity to progress despite social distancing restrictions implemented from late March 2020.

The ABS is actively managing the potential risks from COVID-19 to data collection operations. The ABS appreciates the support of survey respondents in continuing to provide the data to compile this publication.

Suspension of trend series

The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in construction activity. This measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in activity during this time, as the construction industry faces on-going uncertainty. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying construction activity.

It may be some time before the underlying trend in construction activity can be accurately estimated. The trend series have therefore been suspended starting from June 2020. The trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend. 

Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information you provide to us.

History of changes

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8762.0

Article archive

Revisions to Engineering Construction Statistics , March quarter 2017 (cat. no. 8762.0)

A closer look at mining in Engineering Construction , March quarter 2012 (cat. no. 8762.0)

Additional Building and Construction feature articles can be found in Feature Articles by Catalogue Number

Methodology

Engineering Construction Activity, Australia methodology, December 2020