Small Business Insights
Xero has recently launched Small Business Insights, which provides a monthly snapshot of Australia’s small business sector – courtesy of data aggregated from Xero’s hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Xero has decided to provide these insights with the aim to “help policymakers and large enterprises make more informed decisions that benefit the small business economy” (Xero SBI). On top of metrics that give insights to the small business environment in Australia; KPMG, small business owners, business journalists provide commentary on the small business sector.
A New Trend
One interesting trend that has been observed by Xero is the increase of small business employment in more suburban locations in major Australian cities. Bernard Salt of KPMG has reported this pattern being evident in Brisbane, as small business employment increased in the period of January – September this year. Nearby CBD suburbs Red Hill (woo!) and Clayfield experienced a 17% increase in small business employment. More suburban areas such as Camp Hill and Bridgeman Downs also had an increase of small business employment, going up 23% & 18% respectively.
This suburban small business employment trend is also replicated in other large Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. It seems that middle suburbia in Australia is acting as an incubator to nurture new small businesses, says Bernard Salt. It is important to note that whether our economy is performing well or poorly, middle suburbs in our large cities still flourish and experience growth in employment. These small business employment patterns that have been uncovered by Xero’s Small Business Insights give a new perspective on Australia’s modern economy. This pattern provides evidence that small business is as vital as ever to Australia’s economy.
We as small business advisors are excited about these findings, as it displays Australia’s evolving economy – and more importantly outlines the importance of small business to our evolving economy. All information was gathered from the “Small business beats in the heartland” article by Bernard Salt – read the full article here.
Post Contributor:
Andrés Pascoe