Australia has continued its growth in business for four years in a row with a 3.1 per cent growth, according to a new research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

According to the Director of the Business Register Unit at the ABS Luisa Ryan, the growth figure of 3.1 per cent made up 2.24 million actively trading businesses in Australia in June 2017. 

“Counts of businesses increased across all States and Territories from June 2016 to June 2017 with the ACT seeing the largest percentage growth in business counts at 4.5 per cent,” Ms Ryan said. 

The entry rate of businesses also increased from 14.6 per cent in 2016 to 15.1. per cent in 2017.
The growth was mainly driven by non-employing businesses. 

The highest growth in business was recorded by the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry, with 12.1 per cent and accounting for 16,160 businesses. 

The area with the largest growth was in Transport, under ‘Taxi and Other Transport’ operators. There was an increase of 32.3 per cent, accounting for 6,150 businesses. 

Comparatively, the business exit rates have decreased, with 12.3 per cent at June 2016, down to 12.0 per cent in June 2017. 

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry made up the largest total decrease in the number of businesses, with a figure of 1,110 businesses.