NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
August 2008	26 August 2008
September 2008	30 September 2008
October 2008	28 October 2008
December 2008	18 December 2008

WHAT'S NEW THIS MONTH

Topics which have been updated with new data in this month's issue of SA Stats include: Labour Force; Consumption; Construction; Price Indexes; Housing Finance; International Merchandise Trade; and Water. This month's issue of SA Stats is the last issue to contain information on Job Vacancies as the Survey of Job Vacancies will not be conducted during 2008-09. This survey may be reinstated in 2009-10.

A new article, ' New Dwelling Approvals in South Australia', is included in this month's SA Stats. This article provides an overview of the number of dwellings approved in South Australia from 1998-99 to 2006-07, using data from the Building Approvals Collection and the Census of Population and Housing. It investigates the type of dwellings being approved in South Australia, and the locations which have experienced the greatest growth.

This month's issue of SA Stats shows South Australia's retail turnover in May 2008 was $1,449.9m, a 0.6% increase from April 2008. This was the 10th consecutive month where retail turnover in South Australian grew at a faster rate than the national average.

South Australia's Household Final Consumption Expenditure in the March quarter 2008 was $10,766m, a 2.1% increase from the December quarter 2007. The Australian estimate for HFCE was $149,747m in the March quarter 2008, a 1.1% increase from the December quarter 2007. The retail turnover and HFCE estimates indicate that household spending of South Australians during 2008 has been stronger than the national average.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or James Inglis on Adelaide (08) 8237 7405, or email sa.statistics@abs.gov.au.