Service industries

The Northern Territory's (NT) service industries cover a wide range of sectors. While many of them are small when looked at individually, they combine to make up a large proportion of the NT's gross state product. These include rental, hiring and real estate services; transport, postal and warehousing; professional, scientific and technical services; financial and insurance services; administrative and support services; electricity, gas, water and waste services; accommodation and food services; arts and recreation services; information media and telecommunications; and a range of other service sector categories.

Economic contribution | Contribution to employment | Explanatory notes

Service industries cover a wide variety of sectors that, while individually small, combine to contribute a large proportion of the NT’s gross state product (GSP). The service industries category comprises: rental, hiring and real estate services; transport, postal and warehousing; professional, scientific and technical services; financial and insurance services; administrative and support services; electricity, gas, water and waste services; accommodation and food services; arts and recreation services; information media and telecommunications; and other services.

With no unifying feature, economic performance is varied among the service industries, with significant growth opportunities for the NT economy. Over the past decade, the combined service industries has had a relatively consistent share of the NT’s economic growth and total employment, averaging 20.4% and 33.4% respectively  (Chart 1).

Economic contribution

In 2021-22:

• the combined sector increased by 2.5%, with increases in all services with the exception of accommodation and food services (down by 6.1%), professional, scientific and technical services (down by 1.2%) and financial and insurance services (down by 0.5%).
• this accounted for 17.1% of the NT’s GSP.
• nationally, the combined industries increased by 5.9%  and accounted for 31.9% of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
• for more information on contribution by industries, see the main industry summary page.

For more information on contribution by industries, see the main industry summary page.

Contribution to employment

In 2022-23:

• employment in the NT combined service industries increased by 9.5% to 49,295 persons
• the industry share of the total NT workforce increased from 33.4% to 35.1%
• the increase was largely driven by arts and recreational services (up by 40.6%), financial and insurance services (up 27.6%), and professional, scientific and technical services (up by 22.6%)
• the only falls in employment were seen in transport, postal and warehousing (down by 18.0%) and information media and telecommunications (down by 11.0%)
• the combined service industries increased by 5.1% nationally, representing 38.0% of the total workforce
• for more information on contribution by industries, see the main industry summary page.

Explanatory notes

• It is important to note the increase in total value of service industries does not always correspond to an increase in total employment, which highlights the variety of service industries, some being labour intensive, such as accommodation and food services, and others less labour intensive and usually dependent on emerging technologies, such as the information, media and telecommunication industry.