Industries in Australia

Find profiles, forecasts, statistics and other information on Australian industries & markets

Industry overviews

IBISWorld Industry Reports  (ANZSIC) cover over 500 Australian industries, including most sectors in the ANZSIC classification scheme. Each report consists of 30 to 40 pages of key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, current and historical performance, a five-year forecast and major industry participants The reports may be viewed from home by registered Victorian Library users, or on any workstation located onsite at the State Library. 

Benchmarking

Benchmarking  entails an analytical process whereby business, financial, demographic and product data is used to analyze and assess the financial and operational performance of a business in comparison with its peers within the industry. As such it acts as a diagnostic tool for  individuals working in financial roles to determine the status of a  business  with view to its profitability, investment potential etc. 

For more information about the product, see the website of Benchmarking.com.au Pty Ltd where the industries covered are shown. It includes industry profiles and tables showing profit drivers and cost structures for successful businesses in about 90 industries.

The industry profiles and benchmarks can be purchased online for immediate downloading.

Within the State Library building, the industry profiles and benchmarks are available for viewing in print  from 2006 up to and including 2015 edition.

Industry directories, handbooks and yearbooks

These publications refer to a specific industry and are usually published yearly. They will often give an overview of the industry for the previous year, as well as general statistics, companies operating in the industry, product guidelines, relevant government agencies, impacting legislation and biographical information. The scope and depth will vary significantly depending on the industry.

Publishers can be trade associations, commercial publishers, governments and professional bodies. Because they are often not distributed through the usual publishing channels, identifying the existence of directories can be difficult.

The State Library of Victoria has an excellent collection of industry-specific directories, yearbooks and handbooks. Search the State Library's online catalogue by combining the name of an industry with the terms 'handbook', 'yearbook' or 'directory' (and their plurals).  Use this link and add industry keywords in the top box to complete search. Specific industry yearbooks held at the State Library of Victoria include:

It may also prove worthwhile to run a similar search of Trove, the national database of Australian libraries' collections.