The Australian Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research recently released ‘Key statistics – Australian Small Business’ which I thought had some interesting findings I would highlight.
I’ll hit you with them in short:
– At the end of June 2010, small businesses (0-19 employees) provided employment for almost half (47.2%) of total industry employment, which is almost 4.8 million people. Medium sized businesses (20-199 employees) employed 23.3% and large businesses (200+ employees) provided 29.5%.
– There were 2,051,085 actively trading businesses in Australia as at June 2009. 96% were small businesses (1,961,337), 4% were medium sized and less than 1% were large businesses. That 96% supports the ‘backbone of the economy’ phrase we hear often.
– Which state has the most small businesses? We won, NSW had 652,454 small businesses, Victoria 495,000, Queensland 399,476, South Australia 138,429, Western Australia 202,811, Tasmania 35,987, Northern Territory 12,838 and ACT 23,301.
– In June 2006 (last available data on the subject), female small business operators accounted for 31.5% of total small businesses compared with male operators sitting at 68.5%.
– As at December 2008, almost 50% of business owners estimated working more than 40 hours per week. 22% said they work 41-50 hours, 18% estimated 51-70 hours and 6% estimated working over 70 hours per week.
Interestingly, of those estimating working less than 41 hours per week, 17% estimated working 31-40 hours per week, 17% 21-30 hours, 11% 11-20 hours and 8% estimated working 0-10 hours.
