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OVERVIEW
The scope of the survey includes all private sector employing businesses in the Construction industry involved in:

General construction (ANZSIC sub-division 41), as follows:

• Residential construction (ANZSIC classes 4111 and 4112);
• Non-residential building construction (ANZSIC class 4113);
• Non-building construction (ANZSIC classes 4121 and 4122); and
  Construction trade services (ANZSIC sub-division 42);
  
  and which operated in the 1996-97 financial year.
  
  Businesses in all sectors of the industry were asked to report financial and structural data, presented in tables 1-4 of this publication. Only businesses classified to Residential construction and Construction trade services were asked additional questions on other aspects of their operations. This data is presented in tables 5-10.
  
  Further information about the scope and coverage can be found in the Explanatory notes.
  
  Tables 1-3 show that during the 1996-97 financial year there were 81,000 private sector employing businesses in the Construction industry with total employment of 327,700 persons. Total income was reported as $53,162m and total expenses $50,388m. Operating profit before tax (OPBT) was $3,041m giving an industry profit margin of 5.8%.
  
  Business averages for this industry shown in Table 4 indicate that businesses had an average employment of 4.1 persons. Average income was $656,000 while average expenses were $622,000. Average operating profit before tax was estimated to be $38,000.
  
  Table 5 summarises business strategies used during the last major economic downturn by Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. Of these businesses, 39% reported they had yet to experience a major downturn. For those businesses (61%) who had suffered a downturn, the main strategy was to reduce the number of sub-contractors engaged.
  
  Table 6 shows methods used by businesses to dispose of waste in the Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. A large proportion (41%) of businesses in Residential construction and Construction trade services removed their own waste. About 11% of businesses reported that no waste removal was necessary.
  
  Tables 7-10 report on computer usage within the Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. They show that 49% of businesses used computers. The main use was for general administrative tasks, reported by one-third of businesses in the industry.