Construction lifts business turnover in September

Business turnover for the Construction industry rose 3.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in September, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: “Construction turnover has continued to rise over the last three months due to greater activity on major civil and commercial projects.

“The Electricity, gas, water and waste services and Information media and telecommunications industries grew 3.4 per cent. The growth in Information media and telecommunications was driven by continued demand in the Publishing subdivision.”

Rises in these industries were partially offset by falls in four of the 13 industries.

“The largest fall was in Mining, down 1.5 per cent, led by a drop in turnover in the Oil and gas extraction subdivision,” Mr Ewing said.

The 13-industry aggregate showed business turnover rising 0.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms but falling 0.1 per cent in trend terms.

Business turnover indicator, change in turnover, seasonally adjusted

August 2024 to September 2024 (%)September 2023 to September 2024 (%)
Construction3.78.0
Electricity, gas, water and waste services3.419.3
Information media and telecommunications3.45.5
Other services1.86.0
Transport, postal and warehousing1.76.4
Arts and recreation services1.44.2
Administrative and support services1.12.1
Accommodation and food services0.14.0
Manufacturing0.00.4
Professional, scientific and technical services-0.24.3
Retail trade-0.8-2.3
Wholesale trade-1.1-1.9
Mining-1.5-11.9
13-industry aggregate0.2-0.1

Compared to September 2023, turnover was higher for 10 of the 13 industries included in the indicator.

The industries that saw the biggest annual rises were Electricity, gas, water and waste services (+19.3 per cent) and Construction (+8.0 per cent).

Mining had the largest annual fall (-11.9 per cent).

/ABS Public Release. View in full here.