After three years affected by the pandemic disruption then recovery, 2022-23 was the first ‘normal’ financial year for industry in many years. And, as the Australian economy slows from its post-pandemic boom, we see clear evidence of a ‘multi-speed economy’ emerging – with some industries in some states still growing very quickly, but others already moving into contraction.
The data interactive below measures industry performance across the states by looking at real industry value-add: how much net value an industry creates, adjusted for inflation, after taking away the costs of materials and services used in production. Industry value-add provides a better indicator of how much output is being generated by an industry than sales or profit figures, and helps us understand how different sectors contribute to the economy.
Australia saw small growth overall in real value-add across all industries: 3.4% in the 2022-23, down from 4.2% in pandemic-recovery year prior. Some industries, such as accommodation & food, transport, and ICT did well, despite facing well known labour shortages and supply chain problems. However, manufacturing, utilities, rental & real estate, financial services and retail trade had a much harder year. Among these, manufacturing stood out as the weakest sector, with a decline of -1.1% in real value-add.
Australia's economic output varies across regions, with each state having its own unique factors that affect industries. New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia led total industry value-add, with a growth rate of 4.1% in the fiscal year 2022-23. Queensland came next, followed by Victoria.
However, it often makes sense to exclude mining – a highly volatile and globally cyclical – indicator from this data, to better highlight how domestic industry is performing. When mining is excluded, surprisingly it was WA had the highest growth rate at 4.8%, with SA close behind at 4.6% and NSW at 3.9%.
Looking closely at how different sectors performed, we see that in Victoria accommodation and food had a high growth rate of 29.5%. The transport sector reformed best in Queensland and Western Australia. Construction was fairly weak in each state except Western Australia, where it where it grew at 4.9%.
Manufacturing had a tough time in almost every state. South Australia had the highest growth rate at 3.6%, but Victoria and Queensland saw decreases in this sector. The retail industry was also fairly lacklustre: New South Wales (2.8%) and Victoria (2.5%) were stronger than Queensland (-0.6%) and Western Australia (-0.8%), which saw retail trade contract.
Industry output across the Australian states varies considerably. While some sectors and regions have shown robust growth, others have faced challenges and stagnation. In order to see better growth in the face of slowing economies globally, policymakers and industry stakeholders will need to navigate complexities, address weaknesses, and build resilience to ensure growth for Australia's economy.
Dr Jeenat Binta Jabbar is an Economist at the Australian Industry Group, specialising in labour, migration, wellbeing, poverty, and inequality. With her experiences in NGOs, non-profits, humanitarian, and academia, Jeenat worked for incorporating and improving evidence-based policies and programs. Jeenat also has a good background of business informatics, combining economics in her Master program at Ural Federal University, Russia. She completed her PhD in Economics from RMIT university.
