Engineering Construction Activity, Australia

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Contains value of engineering construction work done, commenced and yet to be done, classified by various metrics

Reference period

September 2019

Released

15/01/2020

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Key statistics

During the September quarter:

Trend engineering construction work done fell 0.6%.
Seasonally adjusted engineering construction work done rose 0.5%.
Value of work commenced decreased 16.1% in original terms.

Main features

September key figures

		Sep Qtr 19	Jun Qtr 19 to Sep Qtr 19	Sep Qtr 18 to Sep Qtr 19
	Value of work done	$m	% change	% change
Trend estimates(a)
	For the private sector	12 602.0	-2.2	-10.8
	For the public sector(b)	8 607.8	1.9	-9.5
	Total engineering construction	21 212.7	-0.6	-10.3
Seasonally adjusted estimates(a)
	For the private sector	12 633.5	-2.3	-8.2
	For the public sector(b)	8 801.0	4.9	-8.3
	Total engineering construction	21 434.6	0.5	-8.3

a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2017-18.
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
	Trend ($m)	Seasonally adjusted ($m)
Sep 2011	30,742	32,689
Dec 2011	33,033	31,010
Mar 2012	35,234	36,144
Jun 2012	37,132	37,115
Sep 2012	38,122	38,145
Dec 2012	37,492	37,946
Mar 2013	36,676	36,278
Jun 2013	36,337	35,662
Sep 2013	36,418	37,017
Dec 2013	36,280	36,530
Mar 2014	35,166	34,706
Jun 2014	33,456	34,030
Sep 2014	31,433	30,989
Dec 2014	29,816	30,256
Mar 2015	29,027	27,710
Jun 2015	28,580	29,855
Sep 2015	27,661	27,597
Dec 2015	26,048	25,581
Mar 2016	23,997	24,538
Jun 2016	22,393	22,116
Sep 2016	21,405	21,186
Dec 2016	21,210	21,243
Mar 2017	21,713	21,958
Jun 2017	22,448	26,643
Sep 2017	23,314	36,279
Dec 2017	24,261	24,051
Mar 2018	24,820	24,902
Jun 2018	24,599	25,023
Sep 2018	23,657	23,362
Dec 2018	22,424	22,531
Mar 2019	21,660	21,334
Jun 2019	21,335	21,319
Sep 2019	21,213	21,435

Value of work done, chain volume measures

["","Trend","Seasonally adjusted"]

[["Sep 2011","Dec 2011","Mar 2012","Jun 2012","Sep 2012","Dec 2012","Mar 2013","Jun 2013","Sep 2013","Dec 2013","Mar 2014","Jun 2014","Sep 2014","Dec 2014","Mar 2015","Jun 2015","Sep 2015","Dec 2015","Mar 2016","Jun 2016","Sep 2016","Dec 2016","Mar 2017","Jun 2017","Sep 2017","Dec 2017","Mar 2018","Jun 2018","Sep 2018","Dec 2018","Mar 2019","Jun 2019","Sep 2019"],[[30742.200000000001],[33032.699999999997],[35233.5],[37132.099999999999],[38122.099999999999],[37492.300000000003],[36676.400000000001],[36336.599999999999],[36417.800000000003],[36279.699999999997],[35165.699999999997],[33456.099999999999],[31433.400000000001],[29816],[29027.299999999999],[28580],[27661],[26047.5],[23996.799999999999],[22393.400000000001],[21404.5],[21209.799999999999],[21712.5],[22447.599999999999],[23313.700000000001],[24261.400000000001],[24820],[24599],[23656.599999999999],[22423.700000000001],[21660.099999999999],[21335],[21212.700000000001]],[[32688.900000000001],[31010.099999999999],[36144.400000000001],[37115.400000000001],[38145.400000000001],[37946],[36278.400000000001],[35662.400000000001],[37016.900000000001],[36530],[34706],[34029.5],[30988.900000000001],[30255.5],[27709.5],[29855.200000000001],[27597.299999999999],[25581],[24537.900000000001],[22115.5],[21185.5],[21242.599999999999],[21958.299999999999],[26642.799999999999],[36279],[24050.799999999999],[24901.5],[25022.700000000001],[23362.099999999999],[22531.099999999999],[21333.5],[21318.599999999999],[21434.599999999999]]]

[]

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Value of work done, chain volume measures - trend estimates
	Total ($m)	For private sector ($m)	For public sector ($m)
Sep 2011	30,742	21,871	8,932
Dec 2011	33,033	24,319	8,795
Mar 2012	35,234	26,527	8,808
Jun 2012	37,132	28,320	8,931
Sep 2012	38,122	29,339	8,916
Dec 2012	37,492	28,819	8,807
Mar 2013	36,676	28,141	8,665
Jun 2013	36,337	27,924	8,542
Sep 2013	36,418	28,233	8,323
Dec 2013	36,280	28,471	7,958
Mar 2014	35,166	27,906	7,416
Jun 2014	33,456	26,657	6,952
Sep 2014	31,433	24,827	6,743
Dec 2014	29,816	23,199	6,735
Mar 2015	29,027	22,422	6,716
Jun 2015	28,580	22,001	6,685
Sep 2015	27,661	20,967	6,783
Dec 2015	26,048	19,038	7,066
Mar 2016	23,997	16,729	7,292
Jun 2016	22,393	14,980	7,417
Sep 2016	21,405	13,772	7,624
Dec 2016	21,210	13,245	7,951
Mar 2017	21,713	13,392	8,321
Jun 2017	22,448	13,832	8,637
Sep 2017	23,314	14,350	8,988
Dec 2017	24,261	14,789	9,477
Mar 2018	24,820	14,894	9,908
Jun 2018	24,599	14,616	9,963
Sep 2018	23,657	14,134	9,516
Dec 2018	22,424	13,594	8,830
Mar 2019	21,660	13,192	8,467
Jun 2019	21,335	12,883	8,451
Sep 2019	21,213	12,602	8,608

Value of work done, chain volume measures - trend estimates

["","Total","For private sector","For public sector"]

[["Sep 2011","Dec 2011","Mar 2012","Jun 2012","Sep 2012","Dec 2012","Mar 2013","Jun 2013","Sep 2013","Dec 2013","Mar 2014","Jun 2014","Sep 2014","Dec 2014","Mar 2015","Jun 2015","Sep 2015","Dec 2015","Mar 2016","Jun 2016","Sep 2016","Dec 2016","Mar 2017","Jun 2017","Sep 2017","Dec 2017","Mar 2018","Jun 2018","Sep 2018","Dec 2018","Mar 2019","Jun 2019","Sep 2019"],[[30742.200000000001],[33032.699999999997],[35233.5],[37132.099999999999],[38122.099999999999],[37492.300000000003],[36676.400000000001],[36336.599999999999],[36417.800000000003],[36279.699999999997],[35165.699999999997],[33456.099999999999],[31433.400000000001],[29816],[29027.299999999999],[28580],[27661],[26047.5],[23996.799999999999],[22393.400000000001],[21404.5],[21209.799999999999],[21712.5],[22447.599999999999],[23313.700000000001],[24261.400000000001],[24820],[24599],[23656.599999999999],[22423.700000000001],[21660.099999999999],[21335],[21212.700000000001]],[[21870.599999999999],[24319.400000000001],[26526.900000000001],[28319.5],[29339],[28818.599999999999],[28141.400000000001],[27924.099999999999],[28232.799999999999],[28471.200000000001],[27905.5],[26656.799999999999],[24826.900000000001],[23198.799999999999],[22421.599999999999],[22000.700000000001],[20967.299999999999],[19038.099999999999],[16728.5],[14979.700000000001],[13772],[13244.9],[13392.4],[13831.700000000001],[14350.4],[14788.5],[14893.5],[14616],[14134.1],[13594.4],[13191.5],[12883.299999999999],[12602]],[[8932.2000000000007],[8795.2000000000007],[8808.1000000000004],[8931.3999999999996],[8915.8999999999996],[8807.2999999999993],[8664.7000000000007],[8542.3999999999996],[8323.2999999999993],[7958.3000000000002],[7416.3999999999996],[6951.6999999999998],[6742.6000000000004],[6735.1999999999998],[6716],[6685.1000000000004],[6782.8999999999996],[7066.3999999999996],[7291.6000000000004],[7417.3999999999996],[7623.8000000000002],[7950.5],[8320.7000000000007],[8637.2999999999993],[8988.3999999999996],[9477.2000000000007],[9908.2000000000007],[9963],[9516.1000000000004],[8829.5],[8466.7999999999993],[8450.8999999999996],[8607.7999999999993]]]

[]

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[{"axis_id":"0","tick_interval":"10000","axis_min":"4000","axis_max":"","axis_title":"$m","precision":"0","table_units":"($m)","tooltip_units":"(m)","axis_units":"","data_unit_prefix":"$","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

September key points

Value of work done, chain volume measures

Total

The trend estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done fell 0.6% in the September quarter.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done rose 0.5% in the September quarter to $21,434.6m.

Private sector

The trend estimate for the value of work done for the private sector fell 2.2% in the September quarter.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the private sector fell 2.3% in the September quarter to $12,633.5m.

Public sector

The trend estimate for the value of work done for the public sector rose 1.9% in the September quarter.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the public sector rose 4.9% in the September quarter to $8,801.0m.

Value of work commenced, current prices

The value of work commenced in the September quarter was $19,907.3m in original terms, a decrease of 16.1% from the June quarter.

About this issue

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

Changes this issue

A new base year, 2017-2018, has been introduced into the chain volume estimates which has resulted in revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods. In addition, the chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2017-2018, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates.

Data note

This release includes revisions to Engineering Construction data back to June 2019.

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 on the Methodology page.

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.