The industry that's building Australia

Powering a stronger economy, creating jobs and opportunity, building better communities

Our industry

Australia’s building and construction industry building and construction is one of the largest sectors in Australia.

Latest ABS figures indicate that the total value of building and construction work done over the year to June 2023 totalled $269.72 billion in value, an amount directly equivalent to 10.5 per cent of total GDP.

Our industry packs its biggest punch when it comes to the provision of full-time employment and support for small business.

During November 2023

There were 1.35 million people employed in the building and construction industry. This represents a 9.4 per cent share of all jobs across the economy. Over the previous 12 months, total construction employment grew by 4.1 per cent. About 85.3 per cent of these jobs were full-time in nature, a far higher proportion than in the rest of the economy. This means that construction has consistently been the economy’s largest provider of full-time jobs over many decades.

During the 2021-22 financial year

It is estimated that construction businesses paid out a total of $66.1 billion in wages and salaries to their employees, with gross operating profits in the industry amounting to $35.3 billion over the year. Industry turnover was $384.2 billion during 2021-22, a sum that includes sales from construction businesses to other construction businesses.

The most up-to-date ABS data indicate that as at 30 June 2022, there were a total of 445,081 construction businesses in operation across Australia. This is more than every other sector of the economy. The most striking feature of our industry’s construction businesses is their size: of the total, the overwhelming majority (98.7 per cent) are small in size, with less than 20 employees.

Download our latest industry report

Master Builders Australia reports shows the current state of the industry.