Bloom
Statistics for Year 12 HSC Economics
Last updated: 5 July 2023. Visit bloom.study/stats for the most up-to-date version.
Table of contents
Introduction
Sources for statistics
Important statistics
HSC Topic One – The Global Economy
HSC Topic Two – Australia’s Place in the Global Economy
HSC Topic Three – Economic Issues
HSC Topic Four – Economic Policies and Management
Introduction
In HSC Economics, using up-to-date examples and statistics is extremely important, as they act as evidence to strengthen your
argument. It also demonstrates to the marker that you have engaged with the course content.
Here are some pointers to help you effectively use statistics:
Relevance is key: Use statistics as supporting evidence for an argument, not just for the sake of it. They should enhance your
points, not merely exist as standalone facts. For example, just stating the unemployment rate isn’t that helpful, but if the
argument that you are making is that in 2023, the Australian economy was at a level of unemployment below the NAIRU, then
including the unemployment rate as well as a NAIRU estimate would strengthen your argument.
Time periods matter: It is wise to use statistics from different time periods. It is better to use more recent statistics, but
comparing recent data with historical data can be helpful to demonstrate a trend or the effect of a certain policy.
Broad trends over fine details: Exact memorisation of every statistic to the last digit isn’t required. Generally, two significant
figures is enough to outline a trend and bolster your argument. However, ensure precision for well-known statistics which have
one source (namely the ABS or RBA) like unemployment, inflation, or the cash rate. The reality is that most markers do not have
the time to check every single statistic exactly. If you have forgotten the exact number, feel free to use language such as
“around” or “approximately”, or specify a range e.g. “The participation rate has been around 66-67% over the past few years” or
“The inflation rate has broader stayed within the 2-3% target band up until the end of 2014.”
Since many textbooks would be out-of-date by the time your do your HSC exam, you will need to do some research yourself. That’s
why we have compiled many of the important examples and statistics below. Please share it with your friends!
Sources for statistics
Some good sources for statistics related to Australia include:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), especially their Snapshots, which provide a summary of key indicators such as the cash rate
target, economic growth and the inflation rate
Some good sources for global statistics include:
World Bank Open Data
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Bloom is an AI economics tutor designed to help you find relevant examples and statistics to support your arguments, and provide
the source.
Important statistics for Australia
Real GDP growth rate: 2.3% (March Quarter 2022 to March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Cash rate: 4.10% (July 2023) (RBA)
Unemployment rate: 3.5% (May 2023) (ABS)
Participation rate: 66.8% (May 2023) (ABS)
Inflation:
CPI: 7.0% (headline), 6.6% (underlying1) (March Quarter 2022 to March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Monthly CPI Indicator2: 5.6% (headline), 6.1% (underlying1) (May 2022 to May 2023) (ABS)
Current account balance: $12.2bn surplus (March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Current account balance as a percentage of GDP: 1.4% surplus (March Quarter 2023) (Trading Economics)
HSC Topic One – The Global Economy
Gross World Product
Gross World Product: US$101 trillion (2022) (World Bank)
Real GWP growth: 3.4% (2022), 2.8% (2023 – projected) (IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2023)
Global trade
Global exports as a percentage of gross world product: 30.7% (2022) (World Bank)
Global investment and financial flows
Global foreign direct investment flows: US$1.6 trillion (2021), up 64% from the previous year (United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development)
Technology and communication
Global internet bandwidth growth: 30% p.a. (2022) (Telegeography Global Internet Map)
Global internet penetration: 63% (2021) vs. 7% (2000) (World Bank)
Mobile subscriptions per 100 people: 107 (2021) vs. 12 (2000) (World Bank)
Transport
Air transport, passengers carried: 4.5 billion (2019) vs. 1.7 billion (2000), before dropping to 1.8 billion (2020) due to the
pandemic (World Bank)
Container port traffic in 20-foot equivalent units (TEU): 840 (2021) vs. 225 (2000) (World Bank)
Migration
Global migrants: 280.6 million (3.6% of global population) (2020) (Migration Data Portal)
Distribution of income and wealth
Global Gini coefficient: 0.67 (2020) vs. 0.72 (2000) (World Inequality Report)
The richest 10% of the global population make up 52% of income (2021) (World Inequality Report)
The wealthiest 10% of the global population make up 76% of wealth (2021) (World Inequality Report)
Quality of life
Human Development Index for Australia (United Nations Development Programme)
0.951 (2022) vs. 0.865 (1990)
Rank 5 out of 191 countries (2022)
HSC Topic Two – Australia’s Place in the Global Economy
Value of Australia’s trade flows
Australia’s exports as a percentage of GDP: 25.1% (2022) vs. 19.4% (2000) vs. 16.4% (1980) (World Bank)
Australia’s imports as a percentage of GDP: 19.9% (2022) vs. 21.6% (2000) vs. 15.9% (1980) (World Bank)
Australia’s balance on goods and services: Surplus of $11.2 billion (April 2023) (ABS)
Composition of Australia’s trade flows
Australia’s composition of exports (June 2023) (RBA):
Resources: 67.0%
Services: 13.7%
Rural 10.7%
Manufactured: 6.7%
Australia’s top exports (2021-22) (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade):
Iron ore and concentrates: 22.3%
Coal: 19.1%
Natural gas: 11.9%
Gold: 3.9%
Education-related travel services: 3.5%
Australia’s top imports (2021-22) (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade):
Refined petroleum: 8.7%
Passenger motor vehicles (5.1%)
Freight (5.0%)
Telecom equipment & parts (3.4%)
Goods vehicles (2.8%)
Direction of Australia’s trade flows
Australia’s top export partners (2021-22) (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade):
China (30.2%)
Japan (15.6%)
South Korea (8.2%)
India (5.6%)
United States (4.5%)
Australia’s top import partners (2021-22) (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade):
China (22.6%)
United States (10.8%)
Singapore (5.6%)
Japan (5.3%)
Germany (4.5%)
Australia’s financial flows
Australia’s foreign direct investment inflows as a percentage of GDP: 4% (2022) vs. 1.6% (2021) (World Bank)
Australia’s foreign direct investment inflows: $88.8 billion (2022) (ABS)
Australia’s foreign portfolio investment inflows: $159.6 billion (2022) (ABS)
Total foreign investment in Australia (stock): $4.5 trillion (31 December 2022) (ABS)
Australian investment abroad (stock): $3.7 trillion (31 December 2022) (ABS)
Australia’s balance of payments
Australia’s current account balance: $12.2 billion surplus (March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Balance of goods and services: $41.1 billion
Net primary income: -$28.5 billion
Net secondary income: -$0.2 billion
Australia’s capital and financial account3: -$5.8 billion (March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Australia’s current account balance as a percentage of GDP: 1.4% surplus (March Quarter 2023) (Trading Economics)
Australia’s terms of trade: 114.0 (March Quarter 2023) vs. 71.0 (March Quarter 2016) (ABS)
Australia’s free trade agreements
According to DFAT, Australia has signed bilateral trade agreements with:
New Zealand (ANZCERTA) (1983)
Singapore (SAFTA) (2003)
Thailand (TAFTA) (2005)
USA (AUSFTA) (2005)
Chile (ACI-FTA) (2009)
Malaysia (MAFTA) (2013)
South Korea (KAFTA) (2014)
Japan (JAEPA) (2015)
China (ChAFTA) (2015)
Hong Kong (A-HKFTA) (2020)
Peru (PAFTA) (2020)
Indonesia (IA-CEPA) (2020)
India (ECTA) (2022)
Australia has signed the following multilateral trade agreements:
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA) (2010)
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) (2018) between Canada, Japan, Mexico, New
Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Peru, Malaysia and Chile
Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus) (2020) with New Zealand, Samoa, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tonga,
Solomon Islands, Niue, Vanuatu and Cook Islands
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) (2022) with Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Japan,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
HSC Topic Three – Economic Issues
Economic growth
Australia’s real GDP growth rate: 2.3% (March Quarter 2022 to March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Components of aggregate demand (March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Household final consumption expenditure (C): $288 billion (making up 52% of GDP)
Private gross fixed capital formation and change in inventories (I): $100 billion (making up 18% of GDP)
Government final consumption expenditure and public gross fixed capital formation (G): $154 billion (making up 28% of GDP)
Net exports (X – M): $125 billion – $109 billion = $16 billion (making up 2% of GDP)
Australia’s fiscal multiplier: 1.1-1.3 (RBA referencing OECD)
Unemployment
Australian labour market statistics (May 2023) (ABS):
Unemployment rate: 3.5%
Participation rate: 66.8%
Underemployment rate: 6.3%
Australian NAIRU estimate: 4.5-5% (Treasury)
Inflation
CPI: 7.0% (headline), 6.6% (underlying1) (March Quarter 2022 to March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Monthly CPI Indicator2: 5.6% (headline), 6.1% (underlying1) (May 2022 to May 2023) (ABS)
Imported inflation measured by changes in Import Price Index: -4.2% (December Quarter 2022 to March Quarter 2023) (ABS)
Distribution of income and wealth
Australia’s Gini coefficient for income: 0.436 (2019-20) (ABS)
Australia’s Gini coefficient for wealth: 0.611 (2019-20) (ABS)
Environmental sustainability
Australia’s carbon emissions per capita: 15 tonnes (2021) vs. 19 tonnes (2004) (Global Carbon Atlas, Our World in Data)
HSC Topic Four – Economic Policies and Management
Fiscal policy
Underlying cash balance (Budget):
Surplus of $4.2 billion (2022-23)
Deficit of $13.9 billion (2023-24 – forecasted)
Revenue: $680.40 billion (2023-24) (Budget):
Individual income tax: $326 billion (48%)
Company and resource rent taxes: $134 billion (20%)
Sales taxes: $91 billion (13%)
Non-tax revenue: $51 billion (7%)
Fuels excise: $25 billion (4%)
Spending: $684.10 billion (2023-24) (Budget):
Social security and welfare: $250 billion (37%)
Other purposes4: $134 billion (20%)
Health: $107 billion (16%)
Education: $48 billion (7%)
Defence: $43 billion (6%)
Monetary policy
Cash rate: 4.10% (5 July 2023) (RBA)
Microeconomic policy
Multi-factor productivity growth: 2.2% (2021-22) (ABS)
Labour productivity growth: 1.4% (2021-22) (ABS)
Labour market policy
Minimum wage: $23.23, an increase of 8.6% from the previous year (1 July 2023) (Fair Work Commission)
11 National Employment Standards (Fair Work Ombudsman)
Environmental management
Australia’s National Determined Contribution: Reducing emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 (Department of Climate
Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)
Footnotes
1. We take the trimmed mean to represent underlying inflation.
2. The quarterly CPI is the principal measure of inflation, whilst the monthly CPI indicator updates less than half of the basket every
month to provide timelier indication of inflation.
3. Although we expect that the current account balance and capital and financial account balance to add to zero, in practice there
are measurement issues and adjustments made.
4. This is primarily support to state and territory governments.
Home About Pricing FAQs Stats
