FED: Manufacturing profits up, but employment down

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1998
FED: Manufacturing profits up, but employment down

CANBERRA, Dec 17 AAP - A surge in profits failed to halt further job shedding by
manufacturers last financial year, a survey today revealed.

Manufacturing, Australia 1998 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found
manufacturers lifted profits by 14.7 per cent last financial year, more than offsetting a 6.0
per cent fall the previous year.

The overall rise in profits of eight per cent over the two years was dramatically better
than the two per cent fall in profits achieved by all industries over the same period.

Despite this, the number of wage and salary earners employed in manufacturing fell by 1,400
last year or 0.1 per cent to 937,000.

Jobs increased marginally in Victoria and Queensland and there was no change in NSW, but
all other states and territories shed jobs.

The jobs shed were all part-time employment, with full-time manufacturing jobs up slightly.

The average full-time wage of manufacturing employees of $746.10 a week is more than $20 a
week below the average of full-time workers in other industries.

Despite its declining importance to Australia, manufacturing is still the single biggest
industry in Australia, accounting for 14.2 per cent of production, and the biggest industry in
every state bar Western Australia.

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KEYWORD: MANUFACTURING

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