8772.0 - Private Sector Construction Industry, Australia, 2011-12 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/06/2013   
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MEDIA RELEASE
27 June 2013
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)
113/2013
Tradies lead the way in $305 billion construction industry

The construction industry generated $305 billion in total income, contributed $99 billion to the Australian economy, and employed 950,000 people during 2011-12, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

"Two-thirds of the jobs in the industry were in construction services - that's the carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople," said William Milne, Director of Integrated Collections at the ABS, "while the rest were split between building construction and civil engineering."

"Overall, construction contracting and subcontracting activity generated income of $233 billion.

"Of this, $99 billion was in construction services, while building construction added another $74 billion and heavy and civil engineering generated $59 billion."

The majority of income generated through contracting and sub contracting work came from non-residential buildings (31 per cent) and houses (24 per cent), followed by pipelines (other than water) and other heavy duty construction (11 per cent).

Sales of other goods and services, such as sales of developed land and new houses, added a further $67 billion.

The total expenses of construction businesses were $275 billion, of which the main items were purchases ($82 billion), payments to other businesses for trade services, building and construction work ($77 billion) and labour costs of $60 billion.

"The construction industry reported an operating profit before tax of $30 billion, which works out as a profit margin of ten per cent." said Mr Milne.

Further information can be found in Private Sector Construction Industry, Australia (cat no. 8772.0), available as a free download from the ABS website: www.abs.gov.au

Media Note:
Construction industry contribution to the economy is measured by industry value added, which is essentially the final market value of the finished product, less the cost of production.