Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has recently released data cubes from Cat. 8165.0
Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, which enable me to determine the number of small businesses by State, by employment size, by industry and by statistical area (as at end June 2012).
Here is my first cut analysising what is happening on small business counts in my home state (Victoria).
- As at June 2012, there were 551,220 actively trading businesses in Victoria, representing 25.7 per cent of all businesses in Australia (2,141,280).
- There has been a net increase of 8,868 actively trading businesses in Australia (June 2012 compared with June 2011), due to an increase in new registrations, as well as decline in the exit rate of businesses
- The largest increase in businesses for a single state, as highlighted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, is Victoria (7,291), among which 6,794 are small businesses.
- While NSW (3,849), ACT (403) and NT (165) also recorded increases, there are States posted a decline: Queensland (-2,032), WA (-771) and Tasmania (-181).
Changes in number of businesses (June 2012 compared with June 2011)
- Victoria 7,291
- NSW 3,849
- ACT 403
- currently unknown 170
- NT 165
- Queensland -2,032
- WA -771
- Tasmania -181
- SA -26
- Australia (net increase) 8,868
The figure of 551,220 represents businesses of all sizes, with the breakdown by size of employment as follows:
- Non-employing micro-business 336,149
- Employing micro-business (1-4 employed persons) 135,249
- Other employing small business (5-19) 58,292
- Medium business (20-199) 19,977
- Large business (200+) 1,630
- TOTAL 551,220
- As at June 2012, ABS confirmed Victoria had more than half a million actively trading small businesses (529,690). The ABS defines a small business as a business employing less than 20 people.*
*The ABS defines a small and medium enterprise (SME) as a business employing 199 or less people. As at June 2012, the total number of Victorian SMEs is 549,667.
- When compared with June 2011 (522,896), there has been an increase of 6,794 small businesses, representing an average annual growth of 1.3%.
- Small business is an essential part of the Victorian economy, representing 96 per cent of all businesses and supplying 47 per cent of private sector jobs. Around 28 per cent of small businesses are located in regional and rural Victoria.
- Small businesses can be found in almost every industry and sector.
- The top five sectors with the greatest numbers of small businesses are:
o construction (87,857 - 16.6 per cent of all small businesses);
o professional, scientific and technical services (65,353 - 12.3 per cent);
o rental, hiring and real estate services (55,494 - 10.5 per cent);
o agriculture, forestry and fishing (43,770 - 8.3 per cent); and
o financial and insurance services (43,694 - 8.2 per cent).
