Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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Industry Statistics

Objectives

The Industry Statistics Program provides information about the structure, financial operations, performance and production of Australian industries and construction activity. The information is used to monitor the economy and the business cycle, and support the compilation of the Australian National Accounts and Environmental Economic Accounts.

The program consists of:

• annual economy wide financial statistics, from a collection program composed of core and flexible elements that cover the entire economy over a ten year period (in response to specifically identified needs), modelling and analytical work
• construction statistics on activity levels in residential building, non-residential building and engineering construction.

The main clients include: the Treasury; the Reserve Bank of Australia; the Productivity Commission; the Australian Government Departments of: Resources, Energy and Tourism; Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education; Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities; as well as Geoscience Australia; the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences; Bureau of Meteorology; State and Territory agencies; industry organisations and associations; and financial and academic institutions.

As the program outputs are a key input to the Australian National Accounts and Environmental Economic Accounts, they are widely used for economic monitoring and forecasting.

Construction statistics are used for construction industry, finance and investment sector analysis; and in understanding population change, an essential input to regional planning.

Outputs

The main outputs of the program are:

• the monthly publication Building Approvals, Australia (ABS cat. no. 8731.0) providing building approvals statistics which are a leading indicator of future building activity
• the annual publication Australian Industry (ABS cat. no. 8155.0) providing national estimates of income, expenses, wages and salaries, operating profit before tax, industry value added, operating businesses, employment, and selected business performance measures at industry division and subdivision levels.

Other outputs include statistical data releases for Australian Industry such as:

• information about Australia’s mineral production based on data from State and Territory authorities
• additional detail on the industries covered in 2011–12 survey program – manufacturing and construction.

Quarterly releases are:

• Construction Work Done, Australia, Preliminary (ABS cat. no. 8755.0)
• Building Activity, Australia (ABS cat. no. 8752.0)
• Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (ABS cat. no. 8762.0).

Specific user requirements (e.g. more detail for industry and/or data items) are available by request.

Developments

The main medium-term developments in the program are to:

• release Australian Industry outputs for 2011–12 – due May 2013
• extend the depth and quality of industry statistics through business taxation and other administrative data, synthetic estimation and/or modelling techniques – ongoing.

Program Manager

Bill Allen

Assistant Statistician

Industry & Productivity Statistics Branch

References
Topics @ a Glance - Economy

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