Insights into Australian business conditions and sentiments.
The February collection was conducted through a telephone based survey between 17 February and 24 February.
In responding to the survey, businesses are asked to provide a best estimate only, without accessing records or reports.
Business size categories used in this release:
For information on survey sample, response rates and the questionnaire, see Methodology.
A supply chain is a logistics network between a business and its suppliers to produce and distribute a product to the customer. A supply chain disruption is an interruption to that network.
Businesses were asked if they are currently experiencing any supply chain disruptions. This information was collected in January 2022 and in April 2021.
Nearly two in five (37%) businesses are currently experiencing supply chain disruptions. This is less than in January 2022 (47%), but an increase from April 2021 (30%). Businesses with supply chain disruptions provided information about the extent to which they are being affected. In February 2022:
(a) Proportions are of businesses experiencing supply chain disruptions.
In February 2022, medium businesses were more likely than small and large businesses to report being affected by supply chain disruptions to a great extent (36% compared with 27% and 21%).
The industries with the greatest proportion of businesses experiencing supply chain disruptions in February 2022 were Retail trade (65%), Manufacturing (58%) and Wholesale trade (57%).
(a) Proportions are of all businesses.
(b) Includes repair and maintenance, personal (e.g. hairdressers) and other services.
In February, 15% of employing businesses had staff that were unavailable due to COVID-19 related issues. This is down from 22% in January. Large businesses were more likely than medium and small businesses to report employees being unavailable (58% compared with 41% and 14%).
(a) Proportions are of employing businesses.
Businesses provided information about the extent that they were able to cover the hours of staff that were unavailable due to COVID-19.
Small businesses were the most likely to be unable to cover the hours of existing employees (35%), compared to medium businesses (29%) and large businesses (15%).
| Small businesses | Medium businesses | Large businesses | All businesses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |
| No | 35 | 29 | 15 | 34 |
| Yes, existing staff can cover a small amount (some) of the hours | 10 | 27 | 25 | 13 |
| Yes, existing staff can cover most of the hours | 27 | 19 | 33 | 26 |
| Yes, existing staff can cover all the hours | 27 | 23 | 24 | 26 |
(a) Proportion of businesses experiencing employee hours lost.
Businesses provided information about whether, based on current operations, they had sufficient employees. In February 2022, 17% of employing businesses did not have enough employees.
Medium businesses were more likely than large and small businesses to report staff shortages (34% compared with 29% and 16%). This was consistent with January 2022.
(a) Proportions are of employing businesses.
Between January and February 2022, for all business sizes, there was a decrease in the proportion of businesses that had staff unavailable due to COVID-19. Conversely, over the same period, there was an increase in the proportion of medium and large businesses that had insufficient employees to meet current business operations. These results reflect existing difficulties with staff shortages, during a period of high job vacancies (almost 400,000 at the end of 2021) and low unemployment.
| January 2022 | February 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insufficient employees (a) | Unavailable due to COVID-19 (b) | Insufficient employees (a) | Unavailable due to COVID-19 (b) | |
| % | % | % | % | |
| Small businesses | 17 | 20 | 16 | 14 |
| Medium businesses | 29 | 54 | 34 | 41 |
| Large businesses | 23 | 65 | 29 | 58 |
(a) Proportions are of employing businesses reporting an insufficient number of employees.
(b) Proportions are of employing businesses reporting on availability of employees affected by factors related to COVID-19.
Businesses provided information about changes in revenue over the last month and expected changes over the next month.
In February 2022, less than a quarter (23%) of businesses reported that revenue had decreased over the last month. This compares to two in five (41%) businesses in January 2022.
The proportion of businesses reporting an increase in revenue over the past month has risen to 15% compared to 11% of businesses in January 2022. Some businesses commented that the increase in revenue was due to easing of restrictions and returning customer confidence and demand.
(a) Proportions are of all businesses.
(b) Businesses reported changes over the last month.
In January and February 2022, businesses provided information about how they expect revenue to change over the next month.
(a) Proportions are of all businesses.
(b) The sum of the components may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Over one in ten businesses (12%) sought additional funds over the past three months. This is consistent with results from February 2021 (14%) when this information was last collected. By employment size:
Businesses in Education and training (25%) and Wholesale trade (22%) were the most likely to have sought additional funds.
(a) Proportions are of all businesses.
(b) Includes repair and maintenance, personal (e.g. hairdressers) and other services.
More than eight in ten (85%) businesses had not sought additional funds over the past three months. These businesses provided information about why they had not sought funds. The most common reason was that the business had sufficient funds.
(a) Proportions are of businesses that did not seek additional funds.
(b) Businesses could provide more than one response.
This release previously used catalogue number 5676.0.55.003