DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec Qtr 18	Sep Qtr 18 to Dec Qtr 18	Dec Qtr 17 to Dec Qtr 18
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	For the private sector	13 158.8	-2.5	-5.8
	For the public sector(b)	8 881.6	-4.9	-3.7
	Total engineering construction	22 014.4	-3.6	-5.1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	For the private sector	13 241.5	0.6	-6.8
	For the public sector(b)	8 511.2	-10.5	-6.2
	Total engineering construction	21 752.7	-4.1	-6.6
(a) Reference year for chain volume measures is 2016-17.
(b) Includes work done by the private sector for the public sector and work done by the public sector.

Value of work done, Chain volume measures

Value of work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL

• The trend estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done fell 3.6% in the December 2018 quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done fell 4.1% in the December quarter to $21,752.7m.

PRIVATE SECTOR

• The trend estimate for the value of work done for the private sector fell 2.5% in the December quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the private sector rose 0.6% in the December quarter to $13,241.5m.

PUBLIC SECTOR

• The trend estimate for the value of work done for the public sector fell 4.9% in the December quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the public sector fell 10.5% in the December quarter to $8,511.2m.

VALUE OF WORK COMMENCED, CURRENT PRICES

• The value of work commenced in the December quarter was $21,120.3m in original terms, an increase of 14.7% from the September quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2019	26 June 2019
June 2019	25 September 2019

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia (cat. no. 8755.0) on 27 February 2019.


DATA NOTE

This release includes revisions to Engineering Construction data back to September 2018.

Several time series spreadsheets for recent quarters contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.

Trend estimates should be used with caution due to the volatility caused by large engineering projects. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 22 to 24 of the explanatory notes.

Mining projects tend to be complex in structure and comprise a number of different investment activities including exploration, engineering construction, plant and equipment and buildings. A feature article released in the March 2012 issue of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia (cat. no. 5625.0) provides a summary of the conceptual basis of the relevant ABS publications that measure investment in Australia, using a hypothetical mining project to illustrate how this investment is reflected in ABS data.

Engineering construction activity is reported by sector of ownership with work classified according to whether it is being done for the private or public sector. Users should be aware that there are occasions where a project may change ownership during construction phase. On these occasions the engineering construction activity associated with such a project will move sector effective from the time of the ownership change.


INQUIRIES

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