|
|||
|
|||
|
|
| Introduction |
| Reserve Bank of Australia |
| Further Information |
Economic statistics regularly dominate the daily news reports. These statistics provide information about economic and financial trends. They can influence investment decisions, the exchange rate, interest rates and public policy. The information they provide is considered vital to the sound management of the economy. This e-brief will provide a guide to some of the major economic indicators, who produces them and where they can be found.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the main source of economic statistics in Australia. It publishes data on a regular basis about prices, wages, economic growth, trade, labour market and investment. Its web site provides access to its publications and data, free of charge, on the day of publication. The Key National Indicators page provides a one page summary of the latest data.
All ABS economic indicators are released at 11.30 a.m Australian Eastern Standard Time. The information on the Key National Indicators page is updated shortly afterwards. Information about expected release dates for the current and following six months can be found at the Release Advice page.
The Reserve Bank of Australia provides a range of statistics including exchange rates, official interest rates and other financial statistics. Other useful statistics at this site include the Bank’s historical time series of economic data, going back to 1949, and the monthly Reserve Bank Bulletin.
Apart from the ABS and RBA there are many institutions in the public and private sector that provide statistical research into the state of the economy. Links to some of these leading indicators are listed in the following sections.
The Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) provides a number of statistical publications about the labour market.
The Labour Market Analysis section in the Department publishes labour market projections in its Leading Indicator of Employment. The section also provides data on Small Area and Regional Labour Markets.
The DEEWR's Vacancy Report is a monthly report that provides information on vacancy rates in general and the skilled vacancy rate.
The Workplace Relations Division of the DEEWR publishes a quarterly guide to Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining.
The executive recruitment firm Hudson publishes a monthly report, The Hudson Report, which tracks employers recruitment intentions.
Executive salary surveys are conducted by the Australian Institute of Management and Mercer. The amount of free information from these surveys is limited. The sites mostly provide information about the products.
The ANZ Bank publishes a monthly indicator on the state of the job market with its monthly ANZ Job Advertisement Series.
Business confidence is a useful indicator of expected economic trends in the short to medium term. There are several surveys that attempt to ascertain the state of this important economic indicator.
The Sensis Business Index tracks sentiment in the small to medium business sector. It also has a report that tracks e-Business trends in this sector.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) publishes a number of quarterly surveys. These include the National Survey of Business Expectations, the Survey of Industrial Trends, the Survey of Investor Confidence and the Small Business Survey. Between them these provide insights into the expectations of general business, small business, manufacturers and investors.
The business software services company, MYOB, produces a regular survey of small business operators. This survey provides information on small business confidence and issues relevant to the sector.
The ANZ Bank produces a quarterly Economic Outlook and other reports analysing trends at the state and industry level.
The National Australia Bank (NAB) also publishes a monthly and quarterly survey that presents data on business confidence and outlook.
Westpac and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (W & MI) publish important surveys of Consumer Sentiment and Economic Activity.
A monthly experimental gauge of inflation based on the ABS's Consumer Price Index methodology is produced by TD Securities and the Melbourne Institute.
The Australian Industry Group (AIG) produces two monthly industry based surveys.
There is the Performance of Manufacturing Index which provides an overview of how well manufacturing industries have performed. The services sector is covered by the Performance of Services Index.
The Real Estate Institute produces a number of statistical publications on the major markets around Australia. Its Market Facts and Home Loan Affordability reports provide information about trends in the housing market. Senators and Members can find all these data at the Parliamentary Library's intranet under the heading Housing data.
The Economist provides a weekly round-up of international economic indicators and forecasts.
Many of the statistics covered by this guide are published in a compendium of key indicators published by the Statistics and Mapping Section of the Parliamentary Library. This Monthly statistical bulletin comes out at the beginning of each month. The bulletin is available as a printed publication (available in a pdf or html format) and in an electronic version (Monthly statistical bulletin E-Data) which is continuously updated. The electronic version is only available to Senators and Members.
The following table provides further information about the timing and content of the indicators mentioned (as well as others that are not available on the Internet). Hard copies of all these publications may also be found in the Parliamentary Library.
| Title | Publisher | Freq |
Contents | Month/quarter of Issue | Timetable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian National Accounts (Cat No. 5206.0) | ABS. | Q |
Detailed breakdown of national accounts including Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | Last Wednesday of the second month following the reference period or first Wednesday of the third month |
| Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (Cat No. 5302.0) | ABS. | Q |
Current Account, Capital Account, foreign investment and foreign debt | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | 42 working days after the end of reference period |
| International Trade in Goods and Services (Cat No. 5368.0) | ABS. | M |
Monthly balance of trade figures | Every month | 21 working days after the end of reference period |
| International Merchandise Trade (Cat No. 5422.0) | ABS. | Q |
Detailed trade figures by commodity and country | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | 35 working days after the end of reference period |
| Housing Finance for Owner Occupation (Cat No. 5609.0) | ABS. | M |
Figures by type of borrower, dwelling, lending institution and State | Every month | 27 to 28 working days after end of reference period. Not on same day as other indicators. |
| Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure (Cat No. 5625.0) | ABS. | Q |
Expenditure on buildings, construction, plant and equipment by industry | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | Last week of the second month after end of reference period |
| Labour Force, Australia, Preliminary (Cat No. 6202.0) | ABS. | M |
Labour force status of persons 15 and over | Every month | Generally second Thursday of the month |
| Average Weekly Earnings, Australia (Cat No. 6301.0) | ABS. | Q |
Average weekly ordinary time earning and average weekly total earnings | Feb, Mar, Aug, Nov | 13 weeks after the end of reference period |
| Consumer Price Index (Cat No. 6401.0) | ABS. | Q | Movement in the retail price of goods and services for capital cities | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | Wednesday of the 4th week after end of reference period |
| Retail Trade (Cat No. 8501.0) | ABS. | M | Retail turnover by industry sector and State | Every month | 22 working days after the reference period except for June, Sept, Dec and Mar, which are after 30 days |
| Building Approvals (Cat No. 8731.0) | ABS. | M | Approvals by number and value for residential and commercial. | Every month | 22 working days after end of the reference period |
| Sales of New Motor Vehicles (electronic publication only) (Cat No. 9314.0) | ABS. | M | Sales of new motor vehicles by State and class of vehicle | Every month | In the third week of the month after end of reference period |
| Market Facts | REIA* | M | Monthly review of major real estate property markets in Australia | Every month | Second half of the month |
| Home Loan Affordability | REI & AMP | Q | Index of home loan affordability by State and Territory | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | End of second week following the reference period |
| National Survey of Business Expectations | ACCI | Q | Survey of business expectations and impressions of business and economic conditions | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | Second month of period preceding reference period |
| Performance of Manufacturing Index | AIG | M | Survey of manufacturing industries performance | Every month | First business day of month following reference period |
| Performance of Services Index | AIG | M | Survey of service industries performance | Every Month | Third business day of the month following the reference period |
| Survey of Industrial Trends | ACID & Westpac | Q | Survey of manufacturers business expectations | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | End of first month of quarter |
| Small Business Index | Sensis | Q | Survey of expectations and impressions of business and economic conditions | Feb, May, Aug, Nov | Last Tuesday in the first month of reference period |
| Quarterly Business Survey | NAB | Q | Survey of expectations and impressions of business and economic conditions | Mar, Jun, Sept, Dec | Five to ten days after the end of the reference period |
| ANZ Employment Advertisement Series | ANZ | M | Survey of job advertisements in major newspapers | Every month | First Monday of the month except 1st or 2nd of month. Always in the week before ABS labour force data |
| Hudson Report | Hudson | Q | Survey of business executives and their employment intentions | Feb, May, Aug, Nov | End of middle month of the quarter |
| Indexes of Economic Activity | W & MI | M | Indexes which provide information on present and future levels of economic activity and inflation | Every month | Third Wednesday of month |
| Survey of Consumer Sentiment | W & MI | M | Survey of how consumers view their economic prospects and buying intentions | Every month | Second Wednesday of month |
* Real Estate Institute of Australia
For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to Members of Parliament.