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Special Article - Experimental State Dissection of Industry Data

INTRODUCTION

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is aware of the interest among users for more State dissections of industry data. In response, the ABS has produced an Information paper Experimental Estimates: Australian Industry, a State Perspective (Cat. no. 8156.0) which presents experimental estimates of selected industries for 1998-1999. The estimates are derived by combining information from the ABS annual Economic Activity Survey, other ABS business collections and Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data to produce State estimates of operating income and expense measures across selected industries. These statistics are experimental in nature and are the first part of an ongoing program to make State estimates available for the full range of industries.

This article presents a summary of findings for the 1998-1999 year. The ABS plans to continue this work for 1999-2000 estimates, to improve methods of providing more detailed information, and to release estimates for subsequent years on a regular basis.

Due to the experimental nature of the estimates and the methodology employed, the Methodology section of the Information Paper should be reviewed before undertaking any analysis on the tables presented in this article. Broadly the methodology involved separating the Economic Activity Survey/Tax units into two groups. The first was those businesses identified as operating only in one State (single-State businesses); the second was those identified as operating across more than one state (multi-State businesses). Single-State businesses (including all non-employers) were assigned to a State using the mail address postcode. For multi-State businesses, dissections of both sales and wages for each State were obtained for all significant contributors from other ABS collections or from direct contact with the business.

Some of the key assumptions include:

• all businesses fitting the non-employer definition were assumed to operate in only one State;
• for single-State businesses, the mailing address was in the same State in which the business operates;
• the vast majority of multi-State businesses have been identified;
• some inconsistencies may result from sourcing State proportions from various ABS collections with different reporting periods, definitions and scope.

Period	New South Wales ($m)	Victoria ($m)	Queens- land ($m)	South Australia ($m)	Western Australia ($m)	Tasmania ($m)	Northern Territory ($m)	Australian Capital Territory ($m)	Australia ($m)
EMPLOYERS
Total operating income	288,780	213,761	125,278	45,753	71,234	11,669	5,989	11,862	774,325
Total operating expenses	274,588	197,855	120,639	43,230	67,399	11,194	5,722	11,129	731,946
Operating profit before tax	15,590	16,160	5,167	2,096	4,205	574.0	282.0	764.0	44,838
Labour costs	50,995	32,492	21,431	7,533	11,601	2,017	1,211	2,219	129,500
NON EMPLOYERS
Total operating income	18,453	13,171	9,877	3,829	5,954	933.0	431.0	778.0	53,426
Total operating expenses	14,029	10,045	7,511	2,824	4,153	701.0	303.0	569.0	40,134
Operating profit before tax	4,424	3,126	2,366	1,006	1,800	232.0	128.0	209.0	13,292
Labour costs(a)
TOTAL SELECTED BUSINESSES
Total operating income	307,233	226,932	135,154	49,583	77,187	12,602	6,420	12,639	827,751
Total operating expenses	288,617	207,900	128,150	46,243	71,552	11,895	6,025	11,698	772,080
Operating profit before tax	20,015	19,286	7,533	3,101	6,006	806.0	410.0	973.0	58,130
Labour costs	50,995	32,492	21,431	7,533	11,601	2,017	1,211	2,219	129,500
(a) Not applicable Source: Experimental Estimates: Australian Industry, a State Perspective(Cat. no. 8156.0).