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 20.8% and 33.5% respectively  (Chart 1).

The NT Government is committed to investing in developing industries, particularly related to services through the Economic Development Framework. Such industries include creative industries, tropical health, environmental services and renewable energy. While these industries are individually small in size, they offer significant growth opportunities for the NT economy.

Economic contribution

In 2019-20:

• the combined sector decreased by 5.8 per cent, primarily driven by declines across all services industries with the exception of financial and insurance services (up 1.0%) and electricity, gas and water (up 0.9%)
• this accounted for 19.7% of the NT’s GSP
• nationally, the combined industries decreased by 1.7%  and accounted for 34.9% 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 2019-20:

• industry employment decreased by 10.6% to about 42,524 employed persons and accounted for 32.4% of the total NT resident workforce (Chart 2), driven by decreases in electricity, gas and water (down 34.4%), information media and telecommunications (down 30.2%), administrative support services (down 27.1%), accommodation and food services (down 21%), arts and recreation services (down 20.2%), rental, hiring and real estate services (down 6.6%) and transport, postal and warehousing (down 0.3%)
• the only increases in employment were seen in professional, scientific and technical services (up 9%), other services (up 7.6%) and financial and insurance services (up 5.6%)
• nationally, the combined sector decreased by 0.8%, representing 37.8% of the total national workforce.

In the year to August 2020:

• employment in the NT combined service industries decreased by 12.4% to 41,185 persons
• the industry share of the total NT workforce decreased from 35.9% to 31.2%
• the decrease was largely driven by the administrative and support services (down 30.2%), arts and recreation services (down 29.3%), electricity, gas, water and waste services (down 29.1%), rental, hiring and real estate services (down 21.7%) and accommodation and food services (down 19.5%) individual industries
• the combined service industries increased by 4% nationally, representing 37.3% 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.