Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

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Experimental indicator of business turnover derived from monthly Business Activity Statements

Reference period
August 2021
Released
15/10/2021

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms, the monthly business turnover indicator showed:

  • Moderate increases for most selected industries in August 2021.
  • The largest rises were in Transport, postal and warehousing (2.8%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (2.7%).
  • Accommodation and food services fell 6.5% in August 2021, following a 16.6% fall in July 2021. 
  • Mining was relatively unchanged in August 2021 (up 0.1%), after a 4.6% rise in July 2021. 
  • This experimental indicator is derived from Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Business Activity Statements (BAS) turnover data from monthly BAS remitters. It includes 13 of the 19 industry divisions classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006.
  • Monthly BAS reporting covers businesses with GST annual turnover of $20 million or more and a proportion of smaller businesses that report monthly on a voluntary basis.
  • For further information see Methodology.

Industry

Total turnover differs between industries and this should be considered when analysing month-to-month movements to contextualise insights on overall economic activity. The chart below shows the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for August 2021 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2019-20 financial year (represented by circle size). 

Chart showing the monthly movements in the turnover indicator for August 2021 (represented by colour) and the selected industries' estimated share of total turnover for the 2019-20 financial year (represented by circle size).
The chart has 13 circles, one for each industry division included in the monthly business turnover indicator. The size of each circle represents the share of total business turnover for the 2019-20 financial year for that industry. The largest circles are for Wholesale trade, Retail trade, Manufacturing, Construction, and Mining. Circles are also given a colour shading to represent the monthly change in the Monthly Business Turnover Indicator for August 2021. Industries with negative movements are coloured orange, those with little or no movement are grey, and positive movements as blue. Manufacturing, Construction, and Mining. Wholesale trade and Manufacturing are blue-grey, denoting a moderate increase, while the other three are grey, denoting little change for August 2021. The industries with the greatest monthly increase are Transport, postal and warehousing; and Professional, scientific and technical services. Both are medium-sized industries based on their share of annual turnover for 2018-19. Three industries are orange, meaning a substantial negative monthly change in the indicator. These are Arts and recreation services, Other services, and Accommodation and food services, all of which are small industries based on their share of annual turnover.

Business turnover differs from the National Accounts concept of output. For example, the value of goods sold by wholesalers and subsequently retailers are reflected in turnover for both industries while National Accounts output measures the margins gained by each industry.

Industry analysis and charts

In seasonally adjusted terms, Accommodation and food services (-6.5%), Other services (-5.5%) and Arts and recreation services (-5.1%) recorded substantial decreases in August 2021. COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions impacted the operations of businesses in these industries including cafes and restaurants, fitness centres and museums.

Retail trade (0.3%) and Construction (-0.1%) were relatively flat in August after COVID-19 restrictions led to falls in July 2021.

Mining was relatively unchanged in August 2021 (0.1%), maintaining elevated levels from strong growth in previous months linked to commodity prices. 

Mining

Manufacturing

Electricity, gas, water and waste services

Construction

Wholesale trade

Retail trade

Accommodation and food services

Transport, postal and warehousing

Information media and telecommunications

Professional, scientific and technical services

Administrative and support services

Arts and recreation services

Other services

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files
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