The value that small business adds to Australia’s economy can be calculated by its contribution to Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP measures the total value of final goods and services produced in the economy.
The value that small business adds to Australia’s economy can be calculated by its contribution to Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP measures the total value of final goods and services produced in the economy.
Value added by business size |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
|||
$m |
% |
$m |
% |
$m |
% |
|
Small business (0-19 employees) |
415,794 |
32.3 |
423,916 |
32.5 |
438,359 |
32.7 |
Medium business (20-199 employees) |
287,721 |
22.4 |
280,070 |
21.5 |
283,780 |
21.2 |
Large business (200+ employees) |
583,681 |
45.3 |
600,274 |
46.0 |
616,701 |
46.1 |
Total |
1,287,196 |
100.0 |
1,304,260 |
100.0 |
1,338,839 |
100.0 |
Source: ABS Australian Industry, Table 5, May 2022 and ASBFEO calculations, private sector industry. The ABS publish this data for selected industries, which excludes financial and insurance services. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Small business (employing less than 20 people) added over $438 billion of value in 2020-21. This was 33% of Australia’s total GDP, as shown in Table 1.
Source: ABS Australian Industry, Table 5, May 2022 and ASBFEO calculations, private sector industry. The ABS publish this data for selected industries, which excludes financial and insurance services.
As shown in Chart 1, the contribution of economic value compared by business size has not changed much over the past three years.
Industry sector |
Small |
Medium |
Large |
All |
Small business share |
$m |
$m |
$m |
$m |
% |
|
Agriculture, forestry and fishing |
24,403 |
5,591 |
1,453 |
31,446 |
78% |
Rental, hiring and real estate services |
64,310 |
9,880 |
12,301 |
86,491 |
74% |
Construction |
74,195 |
31,018 |
25,581 |
130,795 |
57% |
Other services |
18,195 |
8,610 |
5,750 |
32,555 |
56% |
Professional, scientific and technical services |
57,860 |
42,315 |
44,933 |
145,108 |
40% |
Health care and social assistance (private) |
42,767 |
15,664 |
51,771 |
110,201 |
39% |
Accommodation and food services |
15,470 |
14,613 |
10,204 |
40,287 |
38% |
Retail trade |
27,386 |
16,348 |
46,122 |
89,856 |
30% |
Arts and recreation services |
3,525 |
3,171 |
5,263 |
11,958 |
29% |
Transport, postal and warehousing |
19,830 |
14,084 |
37,767 |
71,682 |
28% |
Wholesale trade |
17,855 |
25,001 |
28,875 |
71,731 |
25% |
Administrative and support services |
14,972 |
22,188 |
29,979 |
67,139 |
22% |
Manufacturing |
22,762 |
34,185 |
50,434 |
107,381 |
21% |
Public administration and safety (private) |
1,304 |
2,277 |
3,326 |
6,906 |
19% |
Education and training (private) |
5,511 |
10,206 |
17,379 |
33,096 |
17% |
Information media and telecommunications |
3,511 |
6,173 |
27,263 |
36,948 |
10% |
Electricity, gas, water and waste services |
4,659 |
7,706 |
36,776 |
49,142 |
9% |
Mining |
19,845 |
14,750 |
181,522 |
216,116 |
9% |
Total selected industries |
438,359 |
283,780 |
616,701 |
1,338,839 |
33% |
Source: ABS Australian Industry, Table 5, May 2022 and ASBFEO calculations, private sector industry. The ABS publish this data for selected industries, which excludes financial and insurance services. Small businesses are those with 0-19 employees, medium businesses are those with 20-199 employees and large businesses are those with 200+ employees. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
You can see in Table 2 that as well as adding a significant contribution to total value, small business adds more value than other business size in the following sectors:
Source: ABS Australian Industry, Table 5, May 2022 and ASBFEO calculations, private sector industry. The ABS publish this data for selected industries, which excludes financial and insurance services.
Chart 2 shows that the largest contributions in dollar terms by small business to GDP are in the following industries:
When evaluating according to value added in dollar terms, Australia’s largest industry is mining. Interestingly, you can see that in Chart 2, small businesses contributed only 9% of all value added in the mining sector, compared to 84% from large businesses.