Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product

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Quarterly estimates of key economic flows in Australia, including gross domestic product (GDP), consumption, investment, income and saving

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Reference period
September 2021
Released
1/12/2021
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Key statistics

  • The Australian economy fell 1.9% in seasonally adjusted chain volume measures
  • In nominal terms, GDP fell 0.6%
  • The terms of trade rose 0.4%
  • Household saving ratio increased to 19.8% from 11.8%

Articles

This quarter's National Accounts includes the following articles:

Economic overview

Unless otherwise stated all figures are in seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures.

The reference year for chain volume measures is 2019-20.

For more information about the changes in this issue, please see revisions and changes on this page.

September key figures, percentage changes (a)

 Jun 20 to Sep 20Sep 20 to Dec 20Dec 20 to Mar 21Mar 21 to Jun 21Jun 21 to Sep 21Sep 20 to Sep 21
Chain volume GDP and related measures (b)
 GDP3.43.31.80.7-1.93.9
 GDP per capita (c)3.53.21.90.5-2.03.5
 Gross value added market sector (d)3.33.61.91.1-1.94.7
 Real net national disposable income5.05.63.52.5-3.87.8
Productivity
 GDP per hour worked-2.1-0.40.2-1.73.71.7
 Real unit labour costs-1.26.50.3-0.16.9
Prices
 GDP chain price index (original)-0.51.43.13.40.58.6
 Terms of trade1.25.28.27.70.423.1
Current price measures
 GDP4.24.53.73.3-0.611.2
 Household saving ratio20.314.213.711.819.8na

na not available
a. Change on preceding quarter, except for the last column which shows the change between the current quarter and the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Excludes Household saving ratio.
b. Reference year for chain volume measures and real income measures is 2019-20.
c. Population estimates are as published in the National, state and territory population (cat. no. 3101.0) and ABS projections.
d. ANZSIC divisions A to N, R and S. See Glossary - Market sector.

Australian economy contracted 1.9% in the September quarter 2021

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 1.9% this quarter reflecting reduced activity due to extended lockdowns across NSW, Victoria and the ACT. This fall followed four consecutive rises since the 6.8% fall recorded in June quarter 2020 when the entire country was in lockdown. GDP in the September quarter 2021 was 0.2% below December 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Private demand drives the decline in economic activity

Private demand detracted 2.4 percentage points from GDP growth, driven by a fall in household final consumption expenditure. Public demand partly offset the decline, contributing 0.7 percentage points to growth, as Commonwealth and state governments responded to the COVID-19 Delta variant outbreaks with increased health related spending.

a. Contributions may not be additive due to rounding.

Household spending on services declines amid lockdown restrictions

Household spending fell 4.8% this quarter in contrast to the steep decline of 12.1% recorded through the national lockdown in June quarter 2020.

Spending on services fell 5.8%. Hotels, cafes and restaurants (-21.2%), recreation and culture (-11.8%) and transport services (-40.8%) experienced significant declines, affected by trading and movement restrictions. 

Jurisdictions under extended lockdowns record falls in state final demand

NSW, Victoria and the ACT spent more than half the quarter under lockdown restrictions, constraining household spending on goods and services. Household spending in these states fell 8.4% compared to a 0.7% rise for the rest of Australia. The falls were tempered by rises in public consumption as governments introduced and accelerated measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

Net trade contributes 1.0 percentage point to GDP

Both exports (+1.2%) and imports (-4.0%) contributed to growth this quarter.

Exports of mining and rural commodities rose, reflecting global demand for coal, LNG and meat products. Imports of goods fell, reflecting continued global supply constraints and a fall in domestic demand.

Services industries drive decline in gross value added

Gross value added declined 1.4%. The most significant falls were recorded in hospitality, tourism and other service-related industries as lockdown restrictions were reintroduced.

Activity in 8 of the 19 industries remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Growth in compensation of employees supported by the public sector's COVID-19 response

COE rose 0.5%. Public COE rose 3.3%, the fastest rate since June quarter 2010, reflecting an increase in the provision of government services to manage the COVID-19 outbreak. Private COE fell 0.3%, a significantly smaller decline than that experienced during the national lockdown in June quarter 2020.

The superannuation guarantee rate increased from 9.5% to 10.0% on 1 July 2021. Employers' social contributions added 0.3 percentage points to growth in COE, the largest contribution since December 2006.

Household saving ratio increases sharply as incomes are supported by government assistance

The household saving ratio jumped from 11.8 per cent to 19.8 per cent in September quarter 2021 but remained below the peak of 23.6 per cent in June quarter 2020.

The rise in household saving was driven by increased household income coupled with a decline in spending. Household gross disposable income rose 4.6 per cent, the fastest rise since December quarter 2008. Government support payments to households and unincorporated businesses affected by COVID-19, along with increased dividend payments, contributed to the increase in household income.

Operating surplus rises across both Mining and non-Mining industries

Gross operating surplus plus gross mixed income (GOSMI) rose 4.2%, driven by the Mining industry. Mining operating surplus rose 9.5% in the quarter and 52.4% through the year, reflecting higher commodity prices.

Non-Mining GOSMI also recorded a rise, reflecting subsidies paid to businesses affected by COVID-19 related restrictions.

Expenditure

 % Change% Change% points contribution to growth in GDP
Jun 21 to Sep 21Sep 20 to Sep 21Jun 21 to Sep 21
Final consumption expenditure   
 General government3.65.80.8
 Households-4.81.8-2.5
 Total final consumption expenditure-2.43.0-1.8
Gross fixed capital formation   
 Private   
  Dwellings0.111.4-
  Ownership transfer costs3.141.10.1
  Non-dwelling construction3.92.70.2
  Machinery and equipment-2.921.0-0.1
  Cultivated biological resources-7.6-4.7-
  Intellectual property products1.29.5-
 Public-1.711.7-0.1
 Total gross fixed capital formation0.212.6-
Changes in inventoriesnana-1.3
Gross national expenditure-3.14.4-3.1
Exports of goods and services1.23.30.2
Imports of goods and services-4.05.80.8
Statistical discrepancy (E)nana0.1
Gross domestic product-1.93.9-1.9

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available

Final consumption expenditure (FCE) -2.4%

Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) 0.2%

Changes in inventories

Exports and imports of goods and services

Income

Income estimates are in seasonally adjusted current prices

 % Change% Change% points contribution to growth in GDP
Jun 21 to Sep 21Sep 20 to Sep 21Jun 21 to Sep 21
Compensation of employees0.54.70.2
Gross operating surplus   
 Private non-financial corporations4.7-1.0
 Other(a)1.24.90.2
Gross mixed income8.0-4.50.6
Taxes less subsidies on production and imports-27.6901.7-2.6
Statistical discrepancy (I)nana-0.1
Gross domestic product-0.611.2-0.6

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
a. Includes Public non-financial corporations, Financial corporations, General government and Dwellings owned by persons.

Compensation of employees (COE) 0.5%

Gross operating surplus (GOS) 3.3%

Taxes less subsidies on production and imports -27.6%

Production

 % Change% Change% points contribution to growth in GDP
Jun 21 to Sep 21Sep 20 to Sep 21Jun 21 to Sep 21
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing1.436.5-
Mining1.70.30.2
Manufacturing-1.13.6-0.1
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services-0.21.0-
Construction-1.15.9-0.1
Wholesale Trade-5.42.1-0.2
Retail Trade-3.4-0.2-0.1
Accommodation and Food Services-26.4-14.4-0.5
Transport, Postal and Warehousing-3.210.2-0.1
Information Media and Telecommunications1.37.2-
Financial and Insurance Services1.32.60.1
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services-1.212.9-
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services-0.94.1-0.1
Administrative and Support Services-2.115.0-0.1
Public Administration and Safety0.81.3-
Education and Training0.41.2-
Health Care and Social Assistance-2.13.8-0.2
Arts and Recreation Services-7.55.3-0.1
Other Services-11.82.9-0.2
Ownership of dwellings0.51.8-
Taxes less subsidies on products-8.92.0-0.6
Statistical discrepancy (P)nana-
Gross domestic product-1.93.9-1.9

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 1.4%

Mining 1.7%

Manufacturing -1.1%

Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services -0.2%

Construction -1.1%

Wholesale Trade -5.4%

Retail Trade -3.4%

Accommodation and Food Services -26.4%

Transport, Postal and Warehousing -3.2%

Information Media and Telecommunications 1.3%

Financial and Insurance Services 1.3%

Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services -1.2%

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services -0.9%

Administrative and Support Services -2.1%

Health Care and Social Assistance -2.1%

Arts and Recreation Services -7.5%

Other Services -11.8%

State and territory final demand

 Percentage change from Jun 21 to Sep 21
NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACTAust.(a)
Final consumption expenditure         
 General government5.03.42.81.8-0.36.29.15.43.6
 Households-10.8-5.20.30.31.90.90.5-11.1-4.8
Gross fixed capital formation         
 Private-7.15.84.66.5-1.515.72.6-9.70.8
 Public-3.4-5.83.6-4.50.7-1.46.515.6-1.7
State final demand-6.5-1.41.81.40.64.24.0-1.6-1.8

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
a. Australia estimates relate to Domestic final demand.

Quarterly volume measures, seasonally adjusted

The map of shows quarterly volume measures of state final demand by state/territory.
New South Wales' state final demand decreased 6.5% for the quarter.
Victoria's state final demand decreased 1.4% for the quarter.
Queensland's state final demand increased 1.8% for the quarter.
South Australia's state final demand increased 1.4% for the quarter.
Western Australia's state final demand increased 0.6% for the quarter.
Tasmania's state final demand increased 4.2% for the quarter.
Northern Territory's state final demand increased 4.0% for the quarter.
Australian Capital Territory's state final demand decreased 1.6% for the quarter.

New South Wales -6.5%

Victoria -1.4%

Queensland 1.8%

South Australia 1.4%

Western Australia 0.6%

Tasmania 4.2%

Northern Territory 4.0%

Australian Capital Territory -1.6%

Key tables

Key national accounts aggregates

Analytical expenditure aggregates

Expenditure aggregates

Expenditure on GDP

Household final consumption expenditure

Industry gross value added

Income from GDP

State final demand

Related releases

Estimates of Industry Multifactor Productivity (cat. no. 5260.0.55.002)

The 2020-21 issue of Estimates of Industry Multifactor Productivity will be released on 13 December 2021. It provides updated estimates of multifactor productivity (MFP) for the 16 industries defined to comprise the market sector. Longer time series are produced for 12 selected industries. Also included are productivity growth cycles for market sector industries and selected industries aggregates back to 1998-99 and 1973-74, respectively. The release includes experimental estimates of productivity growth cycles for individual industries, sources of aggregate labour productivity growth and its industry origin. Experimental estimates of state productivity back to 1994-95 are also provided.

Australian National Accounts: Finance and Wealth (cat. no. 5232.0)

The September quarter 2021 issue of Australian National Accounts: Finance and Wealth will be released on 16 December 2021. This publication provides quarterly estimates of the financial flows between sectors of the domestic economy and with the rest of the world. This publication also provides estimates of the financial assets and liabilities owned by each sector and various sub-sectors at the end of each quarter. Other key estimates within the publication include the demand for credit by non-financial domestic institutional sectors during the quarter, and their corresponding levels of credit outstanding.

The upcoming quarter will incorporate the derivative data from the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection. The new derivative data will only impact on the financial accounts and financial balance sheets of the national accounts. The derivative data has no impact on gross domestic product, income or capital accounts estimates published in the suite of national account publications.

The implementation of the EFS data will result in changes to both gross positions and flows of derivatives, and changes to the sectoral distributions. It will also see the introduction of estimates for two new sectors.

  • Private non-financial investment funds, and
  • The household sector (reflecting the use of derivatives by family trusts to hedge interest rates).

A technical note discussing the changes will be released with the publication. 

Published releases

Revisions and changes

Revisions in this issue

The estimates in this issue incorporate the 2019-20 annual supply and use tables. The supply and use tables incorporate revisions reflecting changes in methods, concepts, classifications and data sources. For more information on the role of supply and use tables in the national accounts and the major revisions please see the Revisions and changes section in Australian System of National Accounts, 2020-21 (cat. no. 5204.0).

This issue also includes the following changes:

  • the impact of re-referencing chain volume (CVM) estimates to the 2019-20 financial year. This in isolation will only affect levels of CVM estimates, generally leaving growth rates unchanged. Re-referencing can have an impact on CVM GDP growth (and other estimates) for the latest financial year (2020–21) if there are significant relative price changes between 2018-19 and 2019-20.
  • incorporation of revisions to seasonal adjustment in the balance of payments from improved methodology and seasonal reanalysis. Further information on this change is noted below.

Changes to seasonal adjustment method of current price values of coal, coke and briquettes, metal ores and minerals, and other mineral fuels

Consistent with the September quarter 2021 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, independent seasonal adjustment has been applied when calculating the seasonal patterns for the following export commodities:

  • Metal, ores & minerals
  • Coal, coke & briquettes
  • Other mineral fuels

Independent seasonal adjustment derives separate seasonal adjustment factors for the current price and chain volume measure series. Previously for these series, seasonal factors derived from the corresponding chain volume measures were used to seasonally adjust the current price value series.

The change was first applied from the September quarter 2019 onwards in the September quarter 2020 release of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. In this release, the change has now been applied from September quarter 2005 onwards.

Suspension of trend estimates

Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, trend estimates for all series in the National Accounts have been suspended from June 2019 (inclusive). In the short term, this measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in economic activity. If trend estimates were to be calculated without fully accounting for this unusual event, they would likely provide a misleading view of the underlying trend in the economy.

Extraordinary Annual Seasonal Review (EASR)

In the March quarter 2020 issue of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, the ABS advised that the method used to produce seasonally adjusted estimates would be changed from the ‘concurrent’ method to the ‘forward factors’ method for series with significant and prolonged impacts from COVID-19. 

Given the large changes in the Australian economy during the COVID-19 period and the continuing use of a forward factors approach to seasonal adjustment, the ABS has undertaken an extensive annual review of seasonally adjusted series. This review changed a range of time series treatments to ensure that the seasonal adjustment process continues to be less influenced by the large irregular movements over the past year. Revisions to most seasonally adjusted series are relatively minor, but larger than would be observed on a quarterly basis through the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

For some series, the review has allowed a return to concurrent seasonal adjustment, where economic conditions are assessed to have returned to pre COVID-19 patterns. For the remaining series where this is not the case, forward factors have been calculated for the next 12 months through this annual process.

Experimental food consumption estimates using scanner data

The ABS has been conducting research on developing more comprehensive methods of compiling estimates of food consumption using ‘point of sale’ systems data from supermarkets (for more information, see Enhancing household consumption measures in the National Accounts). A datacube with experimental estimates of household final consumption expenditure on food compiled using supermarket scanner data has been included with the Data downloads section.

The ABS plans to replace existing estimates of food consumption with scanner data based estimates in September quarter 2022. If you have any questions or feedback about these changes, please contact National Accounts.

Data downloads

Changes to Excel file format on the ABS website

In line with updating to more recent technology formats, the ABS will progressively transition to releasing Excel files in the .XLSX format. This means that time series spreadsheets in the suite of National Accounts releases will be progressively upgraded from .XLS files to .XLSX files.

While this change will improve usability, it may also require changes to automated macros or similar programs that users may have in place that call on the current file extension format.

For this product, this change will take effect from the December quarter 2021 release, to be published on 2 March 2022. Previously released data will not change.

Download all (6.37 MB)

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data cubes

Experimental HFCE Food Estimates, current price and volume, COICOP Group, SUPC and IOPC, Original

Data files
Download xlsx [169.72 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5206.0.
 

Methodology

Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product methodology, September 2021

Articles

Media releases