Importance of industries
Q. How important are the following industries for providing jobs for Australians into the future?
|
Very important |
Quite important |
Somewhat important |
Not very important |
Don’t know |
|
Very important Feb 2012 |
|
| Construction |
58% |
30% |
9% |
1% |
3% |
|
58% |
| Agriculture |
57% |
27% |
12% |
2% |
3% |
|
– |
| Manufacturing |
55% |
26% |
12% |
4% |
3% |
|
55% |
| Tourism |
53% |
31% |
11% |
3% |
2% |
|
53% |
| Mining |
52% |
29% |
13% |
4% |
2% |
|
64% |
| Retail |
46% |
35% |
14% |
2% |
2% |
|
47% |
| Hospitality |
45% |
37% |
14% |
2% |
2% |
|
46% |
| Finance |
40% |
34% |
19% |
3% |
4% |
|
39% |
| Telecommunications |
37% |
37% |
19% |
4% |
3% |
|
39% |
Respondents regard the construction (58%), agriculture (57%) and manufacturing (55%) industries to be the most important for providing jobs for Australians in the future. These were followed closely by the tourism (53%) and mining (52%) industries.
Since this question was last asked in February 2012, those think mining is very important for future jobs has dropped from 64% to 52%.
Australian Industries
Q. How much do average Australians benefit from having strong industries in each of the following sectors?
|
Benefit a lot |
Some benefit |
A little benefit |
No benefit |
Don’t know |
|
| Tourism |
45% |
30% |
11% |
4% |
10% |
| Agriculture |
45% |
29% |
12% |
4% |
11% |
| Construction |
44% |
32% |
11% |
3% |
10% |
| Mining |
44% |
31% |
10% |
4% |
11% |
| Manufacturing |
44% |
30% |
11% |
4% |
10% |
| Retail |
40% |
34% |
11% |
5% |
10% |
| Hospitality |
36% |
36% |
13% |
4% |
10% |
| Finance |
34% |
34% |
15% |
5% |
11% |
| Telecommunications |
31% |
36% |
17% |
5% |
11% |
Over 40% of respondents think the average Australian benefits a lot from having strong industries in tourism (45%), agriculture (45%), construction (44%), mining (44%) and manufacturing (44%).
Major demographic differences were –
60% of aged 55+ think there is a lot of benefit from manufacturing
62% of aged 55+ and 50% of Labor voters think there is a lot of benefit from construction
53% of aged 45-64 think there is a lot of benefit from retail
60% of aged 55+ and 52% of Labor voters think there is a lot of benefit from tourism
58% of aged 55+ and 48% of Coalition voters think there is a lot of benefit from mining
57% of aged 55+ think there is a lot of benefit from agriculture
Importance of Industries for Providing Jobs
Q. How important are the following industries for providing jobs for Australians into the future?
| Very important | Quite important | Somewhat important | Not very important | Don’t know | |
| Mining | 64% | 24% | 7% | 2% | 3% |
| Construction | 58% | 30% | 9% | 0% | 2% |
| Manufacturing | 55% | 29% | 12% | 2% | 2% |
| Tourism | 53% | 33% | 11% | 1% | 2% |
| Retail | 47% | 35% | 13% | 2% | 2% |
| Hospitality | 46% | 38% | 12% | 1% | 3% |
| Finance | 39% | 38% | 18% | 3% | 3% |
| Telecommunications | 39% | 37% | 18% | 3% | 3% |
Respondents regard the mining (64%), construction (58%) and manufacturing (55%) industries to be the most important for providing jobs for Australians in the future.
This was followed closely by the tourism (53%), retail (47%) and hospitality (46%) industries.
The finance (39%) and telecommunications (39%) industries are the most likely to be seen as only ‘somewhat important’ (18%) for providing jobs.
Australian Industries
Q. Thinking about Australian industries, how would you rate the current state of the following industries?
| Total good | Total poor | Very good | Good | Poor | Very poor | |
| Mining | 85% | 15% | 76% | 9% | 2% | 13% |
| Construction | 77% | 23% | 47% | 30% | 7% | 16% |
| Hospitality | 81% | 19% | 46% | 35% | 7% | 12% |
| Tourism | 81% | 19% | 45% | 36% | 7% | 12% |
| Finance | 76% | 24% | 44% | 32% | 8% | 16% |
| Telecommunications | 78% | 22% | 43% | 35% | 11% | 11% |
| Media | 72% | 28% | 38% | 34% | 12% | 16% |
| Agriculture | 75% | 25% | 36% | 39% | 9% | 16% |
| Retail | 75% | 25% | 26% | 49% | 16% | 9% |
| Manufacturing | 62% | 38% | 19% | 43% | 22% | 16% |
76% rate the state of the mining industry as very good – the only industry to score above 50%. However at least 75% think all other industries except manufacturing are in a very good or good state.
Only 19% rate manufacturing as very good – and 38% rate it poor or very poor.
Most Important Industries
Q. And which of these industries are the three most important for Australia’s economic future?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Mining | 67% | 77% | 67% | 61% |
| Agriculture | 58% | 57% | 59% | 58% |
| Tourism | 46% | 47% | 43% | 56% |
| Manufacturing | 37% | 30% | 40% | 36% |
| Construction | 25% | 26% | 26% | 31% |
| Finance | 21% | 18% | 23% | 17% |
| Retail | 17% | 18% | 17% | 12% |
| Telecommunications | 14% | 16% | 11% | 20% |
| Hospitality | 10% | 10% | 9% | 6% |
| Media | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 4% | * | 4% | 3% |
Australia’s most important industries are thought to be mining (67%), agriculture (58%), tourism (46%) and manufacturing (37%). Opinions are consistent across voter groups in terms of order of importance.
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 14 May 2019
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