Banking News

Supply Chain Disruptions Persist – ABS

(7 March 2022 – Australia) Over one in three Australian enterprises were adversely affected by supply chain disruptions in February 2022 (37 percent) according to the latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The most common supply chain issue facing corporates were domestic and international delivery delays (88 percent), while 80 percent had supply constraints and 75 percent had seen increased prices including transport costs. 15 percent of employing firms had staff who were unavailable to work due to issues related to COVID, a decrease from over one in five employing businesses (22 percent) in January 2022.

“This latest data shows supply chain issues had eased compared to January where nearly half of all businesses (47 percent) reported having them, but still remained at elevated levels compared to when the survey was last collected in April 2021 (30 percent)” commented ABS Head of Industry Statistics, John Shepherd.

“Large businesses were more than four times as likely to report these absences (58 percent) compared to small businesses (14 percent). Conversely, more small businesses reported they could not cover the hours lost using existing employees (35 percent) than large businesses (15 per cent)”.