The Australian financial services industry might have weathered some tough times over the past 18 months, but it is now the largest contributor to Australian national output, employment and economic growth, according to new data released by Austrade.
Austrade drew on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data to show that the financial services sector generated more than 10 per cent of Australian output and is growing more quickly than other sectors of the national economy.
However, the picture might not be as rosy as the Austrade data would at first suggest in circumstances where the ABS changed its methodology, meaning the data was the first published under a new international standard.
Under the old methodology the performance of the sector was seen as being around 3 per cent lower.
Nonetheless, the data allowed Austrade to point to finance and insurance overtaking the manufacturing sector in 2006 as the largest sector in the Australian economy, directly generating 10.8 per cent or $118 billion in real gross value.
It said the sector directly employed around 400,000 people or 3.7 per cent of total employment.
