Month: September 2020

The latest data from global small business platform Xero’s latest Small Business Insights (SBI) program reveals that small businesses continued to add jobs in July, the second month in a row – albeit at a modest pace of 0.5% month on month. Small business revenue also recovered strongly in July and is now only 1.9% lower than a year ago, after being 10.9% lower than a year ago in June. The recovery in small business revenues is being led by the manufacturing sector, where revenues were 11% higher than July 2019. This is the second consecutive month that the sector has reported positive annual revenue growth. The gains were recorded in all states, led by manufacturers in NSW. Small businesses in Victoria recorded more subdued revenue growth in July at 3.2% lower than a year ago. The state’s small businesses also saw a 2.5% month-on-month fall in jobs in July, led by declines in hospitality and arts & recreation, due to the return to lockdown. On the other hand, the…

There was significant divergence between the larger manufacturing states, with Victoria’s PMI falling back into contraction (down 9.3 points to 44.0) while NSW (down 5.2 points to 51.0) and South Australia (up 3.3 points to 65.3) continued to indicate recovery. The PMI in Queensland improved but continued to indicate a period of contraction (up 9.7 points to 47.1). Readings above 50 points indicate expansion in activity, with higher results indicating a faster rate of expansion. “While the manufacturing sector held on to recent gains with activity broadly stable in August, manufacturers from Victoria, which accounts for about 25 percent of the national economy, sunk back into negative territory in the month in line with the introduction of severe restrictions on businesses and as local consumer demand was hit hard by the stay-at-home orders,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. Six of the seven activity indices in the Australian PMI deteriorated in August compared with July. Production (down 3.0 points to 53.4) and exports (up 10.8 points to 52.2) expanded, while…