Australia—Country Workforce Profile
by Tia Di Biase, Joanne Goodall, Annie Chen and Philip Taylor
November 2009—Over the past two decades, the Australian economy has grown considerably. The Australian Country Workforce Profile from the Sloan Center for Aging and Work at Boston College looks into this growth and the affect it has had on the Australian workforce.
The Australian GDP in 2006-07 was just over $1 trillion, making it the world’s 13th largest economy overall and the 10th largest industrialized economy. The most significant Australian business sector growth was in the services industry (71%), with the proportion contributed by industry and agriculture at 26% and 3%, respectively.
Australia’s chief export trading partner in 2006 was Japan (19.1%), followed by China (14.3%), with China as the most important import trading partner (14.5%), followed by the United States (13%). Despite the global economic crisis, unemployment in Australia in July 2009 was reported at just 5.8%.