Immigration
Immigration and productivity: what Australia’s migrant settlement data reveal
New ABS data reveal substantial differences in employment, education and earnings between Australia's migrant visa categories.
Benchmark Analytics
Independent economic and financial services analysis
Original analysis of new Australian economic and financial-services data.
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Petrol Price Breakdown
Explainer: Where your $100 petrol fill-up actually goes
Petrol prices begin with crude oil, but that is only the start. Benchmark Analytics traces a $100 fill-up through refining, shipping, wholesale terminals, tax and the service station.
Australian Petrol Prices
Petrol jumps 14 cents in a week: how the oil shock reaches the bowser
Petrol has jumped 14.3 cents a litre in Australia's major cities. The reason starts in international oil markets — but crude oil is only the first step in the journey to the bowser.
Immigration
NSW gains migrants from overseas while losing residents interstate
Overseas migration is driving NSW population growth, but the domestic migration flow is going the other way. NSW lost a net 20,818 residents to other states in the year to March 2026.
Productivity
Retail sales are rising. Retail employment is falling.
Australian retailers generated more income and value added in 2024–25 despite employing 8,000 fewer people. But the productivity story is more complicated than it first appears.
Benchmark Indicators
Australian economy at a glance
Political Data Alerts
Know what the new data means.
Priority monitoring and rapid analysis of the releases that matter to government relations, corporate affairs and policy teams.
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Indigenous Corresctional Rates
Indigenous Correctional Gap Widens Across Australia
The Indigenous correctional disparity extends well beyond prisons. New ABS data show the age-standardised community-corrections gap has widened sharply since 2017.
Retail Industry
Retail Industry: Sales and Margins
A $100 clothing sale leaves a $56 retail margin. A $100 new-car sale leaves just $6.50. New ABS data reveal how dramatically retail economics varies by product.
Manufacturing
Australia versus America: two very different manufacturing economies
The US manufacturing sector is larger and structurally deeper than Australia's, particularly in automotive, aerospace and defence. Australia remains strong in food, metals, resources and selected advanced manufacturing niches.
Victoria Prison Population
Victoria’s prison population rises 15% ahead of the state election
Victoria's prison population has grown faster than any other Australian jurisdiction over the past year. Yet its imprisonment rate remains the second-lowest nationally, complicating the law-and-order story ahead of November's election.
Unemployment Rates
Unemployment Rates - Split by Industry Sector
Australia’s headline unemployment rate hides enormous differences between industries. This Explainer compares all 19 industry unemployment rates and how they have changed since 2010.
Small Business
Australia Inc: Small business is losing economic ground
Small businesses dominate Australia's business count, but their economic footprint is shrinking. Their share of private-sector employment has fallen from 53% in 2006 to 39%, while their share of GDP has dropped from 40% to 32%.
Australia’s population reaches 27.9 million — 68% live in the capital cities
Australia’s population has reached 27.92 million, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates.
At 31 March 2026, the population was 27,921,150, up 392,700 people, or 1.4 per cent, over the previous year.
New South Wales remains comfortably the largest state, with 8.
Bank Profits
Explainer: Why scale matters so much in Australian banking
Australia’s smaller deposit-taking institutions are not necessarily being beaten on lending margins. APRA data suggest the much bigger problem is the cost of providing banking services at smaller scale.