The economy continues to go from strength to strength across every sector monitored by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Business revenue turnover in February increased in all 13 industries studied by the ABS, providing evidence that the economy is returning to pre-COVID levels.
The result is promising for economic confidence as Australia also continues to report a 4% rate of unemployment, the lowest level since 1974.
Six industries enjoyed leaps in turnover of more than 5% on January’s performance, with the largest rise found in transport, postal and warehousing (9.3%).
Increased business for airlines and other transport businesses powered the higher turnover, said the ABS.
ABS Head of the Business Indicators Branch, Branko Vitas, said turnover for most businesses had recovered from the sharp falls seen during the peak of the Omicron variation of the COVID-19 virus in January.
“There was a large fall in hours worked and businesses experienced labour shortages and supply disruptions in January,” Mr Vitas said.
Nearly a quarter (22%) of businesses had employees unavailable because of the pandemic in January, and almost half (47%) experienced supply chain disruptions.
Increasing commodity prices helped lift revenues and turnover for the wholesale trade and mining industries, which enjoyed rises of 3.9% and 3.8% respectively compared with the previous month.
All industries have recorded year-on-year increases in business turnover, too.
Mining achieved a 35.1% growth in turnover in the 12 months to February 28.
The smallest annual rise was 8.1% for the Construction sector, which retained its momentum through the pandemic lockdowns.
These results feature in the ABS’s “Monthly Business Turnover Indicator”, which are taken from monthly remittance data for the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) Business Activity Statement.