Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 20—Construction 733
20.3 CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, Summary of Performance by State/Territory—1996–97
Selected indicators Units NSW Vic. Qld SA WA Tas. NT ACT Aust.
Operating
businesses—June
1997 ’000 64.7 46.0 39.3 13.4 21.4 4.7 1.6 3.2 194.3
Employment—June
1997 ’000 163.8 114.5 98.6 32.2 55.4 9.8 3.5 6.2 484.1
Wages and salaries $m 2 804.2 2 054.9 1 684.6 428.4 998.9 90.4 50.9 67.6 8 179.8
Turnover $m 18 002.8 14 147.6 13 490.9 4 180.4 6 215.3 620.2 370.2 *871.3 57 898.8
Total income $m 18 363.4 14 247.9 13 600.8 4 221.8 6 287.0 629.6 367.1 *877.0 58 594.7
Total operating expenses $m 16 720.5 13 211.0 12 377.0 3 930.9 5 538.7 508.3 321.4 *790.3 53 398.1
Operating profit before
tax $m 1 796.7 1 085.9 1 234.6 331.2 772.7 123.4 49.8 *70.4 5 464.6
Profit margin % 10.0 7.7 9.2 7.9 12.5 19.9 13.5 8.1 9.5
Total assets $m 9 419.6 6 127.2 6 065.1 1 487.7 2 130.8 105.1 *117.7 111.7 25 565.0
Total liabilities $m 6 314.8 3 695.7 3 916.4 863.3 1 608.6 *63.1 *73.7 *83.6 16 619.1
Source: Private Sector Construction Industry, Australia (8772.0).
20.4 CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, Operating Businesses and Employment
by State/Territory—June 1997
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Operating businesses
Employment
0 50 100 150 200
'000
Source: Private Sector Construction Industry, Australia (8772.0).
Trends in construction
activity
Trends over recent years in the level of activity
of the construction industry as a whole are shown
in table 20.5, which shows the value of work
done, in chain volume terms, by kind of activity.
Chain volume measures show changes in value
after the direct effects of price changes have been
eliminated. The table illustrates that, in 1998–99,
residential construction accounted for 38% of the
activity, with engineering construction accounting
for a further 35%, and non-residential
construction for the remaining 26%. These were
similar to the proportions in 1997–98, with
residential and engineering construction both
growing by 8% over the period and
non-residential construction growing slightly
less (by 5%).
The table also illustrates how the pattern of
building activity changes over time. The pattern
was very different in 1993–94. In that year,
residential building accounted for 45% of total
construction activity, non-residential building
contributed just under a quarter of activity
(22%) and engineering construction the
remaining 32%. By 1996–97, the proportion of
total construction activity occurring in residential
building had declined, replaced by growth in the
proportion of total activity coming from
non-residential building and engineering
construction. Engineering construction has
increased its proportion of total construction
activity over the past eight years.
Graph 20.6 shows the data from table 20.5 in a
longer time series. It shows the decline in the
value of residential construction from mid
1995, followed by a steady recovery from about
mid 1997.