It may be too soon to applaud Anthony Albanese’s reformist Government for transforming Australia’s sclerotic economy into a socialist paradise for workers which is simultaneously brimming with opportunities for courageous capitalists.
But we are now getting an idea of the direction the economy is taking. So far, pretty impressive.
Construction expanding
Construction turnover across Australia surged 17.6% through the twelve months May 2022 to May 2023 from 112.5 index points to 132.3. This is the ninth consecutive month that construction has shown an annual lift above 11.0%. That’s according to last week’s analysis from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) titled Monthly Business Turnover Indicator.
This is the first run of nine months with construction turnover surging at that level since this ABS series began in 2010.
Measuring the business environment
This series draws turnover data from Australian Taxation Office’s business activity statements and uses 13 of the 19 main industry classifications accepted internationally. Monthly index values are produced for all sectors so we can observe changes between any two time periods.
The base month, where the index values are 100.0, is July 2019. More details on the methodology here.
This analysis focuses on the full twelve months since Australia elected Albanese (Albo to his mates) as prime minister in May 2022. We examine annual shifts – that is, From May 2022 to May 2023 – to smooth out erratic month-to-month fluctuations.
Through that year, turnover increased in 12 of 13 published industries, mining being the only exception. See chart, above.
Professional, scientific and technical services
This sector increased by 14.2%, up from 107.7 index points to 123.0. This is the best annual rise since April 2018. It extends the run of increases above eight per cent to 22 months. That is the first time this has been achieved since this series began.
Administration and support advance
Turnover in the administrative and support services sector reached 112.4 points in May this year, up 12.2% on the previous May, which registered 100.2.
This sector suffered badly through the Coalition period, with the index remaining below 85.0 for the entire 19 months from March 2020 to September 2021. In contrast, the index has been above 100 for all twelve months of Albanese’s year, setting new all-time highs in seven of them.
Accommodation and food services well up
This sector rose 11.1% over the year to May, up to 133.7 points. This extends to 16 months the streak of annual increases greater than ten per cent. This is the first time this has happened since the series began.
Mining returns to normal
While the decrease of 132.5% in mining turnover looks problematic, this simply reflects a return to normal export trade after exceptionally high turnovers between March last year and March this year. The current turnover index of 137.6 is well below the peak of 170.3 in June last year, but it remains the second-highest of all 13 sectors, behind only retail. Mining is still booming.
Caveats and commentary
We should note that turnover increases should be expected in normal times as the economy expands with natural population growth. What is remarkable here are the rates of the increases, and that they extend across the economy.
Overall, these ABS outcomes offer a strong endorsement of current policies, especially when read alongside other files on profits, jobs, wages, the budget surplus and debt.
These outcomes expose the ineptitude or malignant lies – take your pick – of the big media corporations which asserted before the May 2022 federal election that the Coalition was the better economic manager. It isn’t.
This data also destroys the narrative of conservative Opposition Leader Peter Dutton who claimed Labor lost last Saturday’s Fadden by-election because of its economic mismanagement.
"People are hurting at the moment and the Labor economic experiment is failing Australians," Dutton said.
Business leaders now banking the profits from the impressive lifts in turnover – along with their employees, shareholders and customers – should all know this is quite false.
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This is an abbreviated version of an article published today in Independent Australia. The original article is available here in full for free:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/contrary-to-coalition-claims-business-is-booming-across-australia,17729
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