8565.0 - Hire Industries, Australia, Preliminary, 1999-2000  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/05/2001   
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PRELIMINARY PUBLICATION

1 This publication presents results, in respect of 1999-2000, from an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey of 767 employing businesses in the plant and goods hiring industries. The publication has been released to provide timely summary information. When fully edited, amendments may be required to the data contained in this publication. These preliminary results, therefore, are subject to revision.


FINAL PUBLICATION

2 A publication Hire Industries, Australia, 1999-2000 (cat. no. 8567.0) will be released in July 2001 and will provide final and more detailed statistics on the plant and goods hiring industries.

SCOPE

3 The scope of the survey was all employing businesses recorded on the ABS Business Register and classified to Classes 7743, Plant Hiring and Leasing or 9519, Personal and Household Goods Hiring, of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). Businesses mainly involved in the hiring of transport equipment or the hiring of equipment with operators are generally excluded from these classes. Therefore this survey did not include:

  • Non-employing businesses
  • Businesses mainly retailing plant and goods, which also hire plant and goods as a secondary activity,
  • Businesses mainly hiring transport equipment, and
  • Businesses which mainly hire plant and equipment with an operator. However, for completeness all employing businesses mainly involved in the hire of cranes were included in the survey.


IMPROVEMENTS TO COVERAGE

4 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new businesses to the ABS business register, and the omission of some businesses from the business register. The majority of businesses affected and to which the adjustments apply are small in size.

5 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses in the estimates in the periods in which they commenced operations, rather than when they were processed to the business register. Adjustments of this type will continue to be applied in future periods.

6 Further adjustments have been made for businesses which had been in existence for several years, but, for various reasons, were not previously included in the ABS register. The ABS is remedying these omissions.

7 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0).


STATISTICAL UNIT

8 The unit for which statistics were reported in the survey was the management unit. The management unit is the highest-level accounting unit within a business or organisation, having regard to the required level of industry homogeneity, for which a set of accounts is maintained. In most cases it coincides with the legal entity owning the business (i.e. company, partnership, trust, etc.). However, in the case of large diversified businesses, there may be more than one management unit, with each coinciding with a 'division' or 'line of business'. A division or line of business is recognised where separate and comprehensive accounts are compiled for it.


REFERENCE PERIOD

9 Data contained in the tables in this publication relate to hire industries businesses which operated in Australia at any time during the year ended June 2000. Counts of businesses include only those businesses that were operating at 30 June 2000.


RELIABILITY OF THE DATA

10 The estimates in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling error.

11 The estimates in this publication are based on information obtained from a sample of businesses in the surveyed population. Consequently, the estimates in this publication are subject to sampling variability, that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been obtained if all units had been included in the survey. One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error (SE), which indicates the extent to which an estimate might have varied by chance because only a sample of units was included.

12 There are about 2 chances in 3 that a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if a census had been conducted, and approximately 19 chances in 20 that the difference will be less than two SEs.

13 Sampling variability can be measured by the relative standard error (RSE) which is obtained by expressing the SE as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. The RSE is a useful measure in that it provides an immediate indication of the percentage errors likely to have occurred due to sampling, and this avoids the need to refer also to the size of the estimate.

14 The following table contains estimates of RSEs for a selection of the statistics presented in this publication.

Relative Standard Errors for Summary Information
Total Hire Industries
Businesses at end June 2000 (no.)
6.8
Locations
Capital City (no.)
5.4
Other (no.)
9.0
Total (no.)
4.7
Employment at end June 2000
Total (no.)
3.9
Income
Total ($m)
4.2
Expenses
Total ($m)
4.0
Operating profit before tax ($m)
9.6
Operating profit margin (%)
3.8


15 As an example of the above, an estimate of total income for the hiring industries is $2549.1 million and the RSE is 4.2%, giving a SE of $107.1 million. Therefore, there would be 2 chances in 3 that, if all units had been included in the survey, a figure in the range of $2442.0 million to $2656.2 million would have been obtained, and 19 chances in 20 (i.e. a confidence interval of 95%) that the figure would have been within the range of $2334.9 million to $2763.3 million.

16 Errors other than those due to sampling may occur because of deficiencies in the register of units from which the sample was selected, non-response, and imperfections in reporting by respondents. Inaccuracies of this kind are referred to as non-sampling errors and they may occur in any collection, whether it be a census or a sample. Every effort has been made to reduce non-sampling error to a minimum by careful design and testing of questionnaires, efficient operating procedures and systems, and appropriate methodology.


ACKNOWLEDGMENT

17 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated; without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.