THE NTE IN STATES AND TERRITORIES

Between 2019/20 and 2020/21, every state and territory experienced establishment, employment, and turnover increases in the Core NTE. While employment and sales turnover have grown strongly across every state and territory it should be noted this reflects returning post-pandemic recovery, with most states or territories remaining below 2018/19 levels.

In terms of employment, Tasmania had the greatest increase (+25%), which followed a 10% fall last year. In sales turnover, Western Australia had the strongest growth (+14%), following a decline of 4% from 2018/19 to 2019/20.

Establishment growth in New South Wales was driven by its Food sub-sector (+13%), with the NSW Dine & Discover program and the 24 Hour Economy Strategy important factors. While Core NTE establishment growth has been strong, employment (-18%) and sales turnover (-6%) remain below 2018/19 levels.

Victoria has shown strength in its Food sub-sector (+10% in establishments) with Food employment at +1% above pre-pandemic levels. Sales turnover is still 3% below. Core NTE employment overall is slightly below 2018/19 (-1%). These figures indicate a strong return to pre pandemic levels. In Queensland, the Core NTE is slightly below prepandemic employment levels (-2.6%) and almost 9% down on sales turnover, despite strong establishment growth. Food (+6.8%) and Entertainment (+8.5%) establishment growth has been particularly strong.

Western Australia is one of the few states to see sales turnover surpass pre-pandemic levels (by 10%) driven by strong increases in Drink (particularly Liquor Retailing) and Food (Cafes and Restaurants). There is a similar story in South Australia, although the growth in these two sectors in 2020/21 was just below, and did not quite reach, 2018/19 levels (-0.5%).

Tasmania’s strong employment growth (+25%) means employment is now 13% higher than 2018/19 levels thanks to strong growth in Food and Drink – although sales turnover is still 4% below 2018/19.

Australian Capital Territory is the only area to have surpassed pre-pandemic performance in employment (+8.5% on 2018/19) and sales turnover (+2.9%), with Food and Drink being the key drivers.

Finally, despite strong growth in 2020/21, the Northern Territory is still substantially below 2018/19 figures in employment (-16%) and turnover (-6.5%), mainly due to a slow recovery in Entertainment.

Table 1: Core NTE by state/territory from 2018/19 (pre-pandemic) to 2020/21 with change since 2019/20

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics CABEE 2016-2021 dataset, Ref: WTS/Comparisons – State