SA’s Economy

Riding a wave of economic opportunity

South Australia’s economic performance since 2000 has been strong:

• Gross State Product was 27.8% higher (2008-09).¹
• Employment was 18.1% (123,000 persons) higher in January 2010.²
• Business investment was 47.8% higher in the year to the September quarter.³
• State Final Demand was 39.0% higher in the year to the September quarter.³
• Merchandise exports were 20.3% higher in the year to December 2009.⁴

Unemployment is at a low rate - 4.9% in January 2010.²

Leading forecasters ANZ Bank, the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) and SACES predict Gross State Product growth of 1.50% - 2.25% in 2009-10 and range from growth of 2.00% to 2.50% in 2010-11. Growth forecasts have been downgraded in light of the global financial crisis.⁵

Adelaide is the least costly city to set up and do business in Australia according to KPMG's 2008 Competitive Alternatives Report.⁶

The State has huge mining potential - ranked 10th most prospective location in the world by Canada’s Fraser Institute, up from 31st place a few years ago.⁷

South Australia’s future growth is focussed on continuing to improve and promote our competitiveness, innovation and productivity to benefit from these strong economic conditions.

Current economic statistics

The Department of Trade and Economic Development provides a regular update of South Australia’s current economic performance.  The most current overview can be accessed here:

South Australian Economic Performance

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data provides a quarterly data release South Australian Statistics which provides an overview of a number of economic, social and environment statistics.

Topics covered include demography, state accounts, consumption, investment, production, prices, labour force, incomes, housing finance, and environment.

The overview is updated in March, June, September and December and in the intervening months the publication includes feature articles that provide a South Australian focus on economic, social and environmental issues.

South Australian Statistics

A short overview of South Australia's economic profile:

SA at a Glance

Footnotes

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: State Accounts, Catalogue 5220.0, spreadsheet 1,5, and 10, www.abs.gov.au

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Catalogue 6202.0.55.001, spreadsheet 1,2, and 7, www.abs.gov.au

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Catalogue 5206.0, spreadsheet 2, 3, 20, 21, and 25, www.abs.gov.au

4. Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods and Services, Catalogue 5368.0, spreadsheet 15a, 36d and unpublished, www.abs.gov.au

5. Various:
– ANZ Bank, States and Territories Economic Update,  www.anz.com/aus/corporate/EcoComm/StateFocus
– DTF, South Australian Budget 2008-09, Budget Paper 3
– South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, Economic Briefing Report

6. KPMG, Competitive Alternatives, www.competitivealternatives.com

7. Fraser Institute, Survey of Mining Companies, www.fraserinstitute.org/researchandpublications/publications