APEC - Internationalization of industrial Science and Technology

Industry

Business Statistics

Number of businesses and employment by size of business

This section outlines the growth in the number of Australian businesses, and in their employment, by employment size group, in 1997-98 and over the period from 1986-87 to 1997-98. The analysis and tables cover businesses other than government enterprises and businesses classified to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industries.

Table 4 shows details of the change in the number of businesses by employment size group, while Table 5 shows the change in employment across the different employment size categories.

The tables show that in 1997-98 there were almost 980,000 non-agricultural private sector businesses operating in Australia, employing around 6.4 million people. Over the period from 1986-87 to 1997-98, the total number of businesses increased by an average of 3.4% per year, while the total number of persons employed grew at 2.3% per year. By comparison, in 1997-98 the number of businesses grew by 5%, and the number of persons employed increased by 2.2%.

The average annual rate of growth in numbers of businesses over the period from 1986-87 to 1997-98 was fairly similar across the different size categories, the notable exception being businesses with 1-9 employees, which recorded an average growth in numbers of 4.5% per year. Other categories ranged from 1.7% to 2.8% per year. Changes from 1996-97 were more variable. There was strong growth in the number of businesses with 10-19 employees and in non-employing businesses (6% and 8% respectively) whereas the number of businesses with 20-99 employees fell by 2%.

Change in the number of persons employed across the employment size categories generally reflected the change in numbers of businesses, with the size group 1-9 employees recording the strongest average annual growth rate (3.8%) over the period from 1986-87 to 1997-98. There was virtually no change on average over this period in the number of working proprietors and partners operating unincorporated employing businesses. Over 1997-98, there was growth in both categories of persons working in their own businesses, the number of own account workers and working proprietors and partners, each increasing by 5%.

Number of businesses by employment category

Table 4: Number of businesses by employment category

Employment category	1997-98 '000	Change from 1996-97 %
Non-employing businesses	433.6	6.0
1-9 employees	459.9	4.7
10-19 employees	49.8	8.0
20-99 employees	28.5	-2.1
100 or more employees	6.1	3.4
Total	977.9	5.2

Note: Excludes public trading and general government entities, and businesses in the Agriculture, fishing and forestry industries.

Source: Small Business in Australia, Data Report (1321.0.40.001).

Persons employed by employment category

Table 5: Persons employed by employment category

	Employment category	1997-98 '000
	Own account workers	674.4
	Working proprietors and partners in employing businesses	307.4
Employees in businesses employing
	1-19 persons	2078.7
	20-99 persons	1,166.9
	100 or more persons	2,187.4
	Total employees	5,433.0
Total persons working		6,414.8

Excludes persons employed by public trading and general government entities, and by businesses in the Agriculture, fishing and forestry industries.Source: Small Business in Australia, Data Report (1321.0.40.001).