The snapshot of the Australian economy

Investments  |  14/03/2018  |   5 min read

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released a new snapshot of the Australian Economy. The numbers provided valuable context for the country’s current positon and future direction.

Composition of the Australian Economy

Resources and the Chinese market continue to drive the bulk of Australia’s trade. The resource sector accounts for 53% of our exports, with 28% of that bound for China. Japan is our second largest market followed by the EU and US.

While Resources are vital to the country’s economic future, health and education are the largest sectors, account for 13% of the national economy.

Wages and Employment

The average weekly income is $1,192. There’s been a lot of talk about stagnating wages in recent years and the official numbers confirm this. Wage growth of 2.1% just above inflation at 1.9%.

Economic growth of 2.4% places Australia just above the G7 average. But a more interesting number is China’s GDP growth at 6.8% - which is down considerably from the double digital growth the country has seen for much of the previous decade.

View the RBA’s Economic Indicators snapshot here and the Australian Economy snapshot here.

For a broader look at Australia’s economic future please view Equip’s quarterly report video. Click here.