Economy
Economic Sectors
New South Wales is a major centre for Information and Financial Services, Professional and Business Services, Trade and Transport.
New South Wales is a major centre for Information and Financial Services, Professional and Business Services, and Trade and Transport. Compared to Australia as a whole, NSW derives a significantly lower proportion of income from Natural Resources and Mining and somewhat less from Construction and Manufacturing. Within NSW, information, financial, professional and business services are concentrated in and around central Sydney. Manufacturing activity is located in the outer suburbs of Sydney and industrial centres such as Newcastle in the north and Wollongong to the south of Sydney.
The NSW Economy contributed $673b of sales and service income to the Australian economy in 2006-07 which represented 32% of the national total. The four industries with the largest income share accounted for 82% of state income in 2006-07: $257b or around 38% of the state total for Trade and Transport; $128b or 19% of the state total for Manufacturing and Other Industrial Activities; $102b or 15% of total state income for Professional and Business Services; and, $66b or just under 10% of total state income for the Construction industry.
During the period 1986 to 2008 structural changes in the NSW economy impacted on employment by industrial sector. The graphs of employment by industry sector show that Trade and Transport was the largest industry sector in terms of employment throughout this period. This industry employed 536,000 workers or 23% of total state employment in 1986 and by 2008 employment increased to 689,000 but the employment share declined to just over 20%. In 2008, Education and Health Services was the second largest employer with 18% of state employment, followed by Professional and Business Services and Leisure and Hospitality with 13% each.
The major transformation in the structure of employment over this period was the demise of Manufacturing and Other Industrial Activities where employment shrank from 434,000 to 337,000 or from over 18% to just 10% of total state employment. Manufacturing slipped from the second largest employment sector to the fifth largest. Natural Resources and Mining also experienced a decline in employment numbers, from 146,000 to 116,000, and its share of employment fell from 6% to 3% of total state employment.
All other industries recorded employment growth and all except Information and Financial Activities also recorded an increase in employment share. The largest growth occurred in Professional and Business Services where employment increased from 186,000 or 8% of total employment in 1986 to 450,000 or over 13% of total employment in 2008.
The maps showing employment in each industrial sector for Labour Force Dissemination Regions in NSW reveal regional specialisation. The industry with the largest employment share in 2008 was Trade and Transport (20.4%), and this was also the largest employment sector in 14 of the 21 Labour Force Dissemination Regions, and the second largest employer in another 2 regions. Employment shares for this industry ranged from under 10% in South Eastern to over 30% in Fairfield-Liverpool.
The second largest employment sector state-wide was Education and Health Services with 17.6% of total employment in NSW. This was the largest employer in 7 regions and the second largest employer in a further 8 regions. The employment share for Education and Health Services ranged from less than 10% in the Hunter excluding Newcastle, to 24% in the Eastern Suburbs.
Professional and Business Services are highly concentrated in Sydney and under-represented in the share of employment in the remainder of the state. Professional and Business Services enjoyed the largest employment share in Lower Northern Sydney (23%), and was the second largest employer in Inner Sydney (20%), Inner Western Sydney (18%), the Eastern Suburbs (23%), Central Northern Sydney (19%), Northern Beaches (19%), and Central Western Sydney (15%).
Manufacturing and Other Industrial Activities was a major employer in Fairfield-Liverpool (19%), the Hunter excluding Newcastle (16%), and represented 13% of employment in Canterbury-Bankstown, Outer South Western Sydney, North Western Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle.
Employment shares by industry sector varied across the regions outside Sydney. Natural Resources and Mining employment was concentrated in Northern, Far West-North Western and Central West (19%) and was a significant employer in the Hunter excluding Newcastle (12%), Murray-Murrumbidgee (11%) and South Eastern (11%).
Government sector employment was relatively high in South Eastern (16%) and the Illawarra excluding Wollongong (12%), reflecting proximity to the ACT, but particularly low in Fairfield-Liverpool (3%), Canterbury-Bankstown (4%) and the Hunter excluding Newcastle (4%).
Leisure and Hospitality was the largest industry in terms of employment in South Eastern (17%) which includes the Snowy Mountains, and the second largest employer in the Hunter excluding Newcastle (18%), which included the Hunter Valley vineyards. It accounted for the smallest share of employment in Outer South Western Sydney (7%) and Lower Northern Sydney (9%).
Professor Bill Mitchell, University of Newcastle and Mr Michael Flanagan, University of Newcastle
