The Hills Shire

What size are our businesses? - Businesses by employment size

Some industry sectors are characterised by few large employers while other sectors are characterised by a large number of smaller employers.

Registered business data presents the number and size of businesses in The Hills Shire within each industry sector using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Business Register and Australian Tax Office (ATO) data. Businesses are included if they are registered for GST, with an ABN utilised in the previous financial year. Employment size is presented by number of employees.

Please note that this data set has several limitations which are explained in the data notes for this topic.

Please note:

The ABS have recently released an update for the Business Register counts to June 2011, with time series from 2007 and 2009. There are significant issues with the dataset, particularly due to the fact that the data were released on the basis of the new geographic classification (SA2s), which doesn't match to Local Government Area boundaries. There is substantial work in concording this dataset to add it to the online site, since it is not comparable to the existing data. This is expected to be completed with the full dataset including time series available when the Census datasets are updated, after the end of October 2012.

View industry definitions









Employment size of registered businesses in The Hills Shire2009
Number of employeesNumber% of totalSydney SD % of total
No employees10,89757.558.8
1 to 4 5,56229.327.1
5 to 191,91410.110.2
20 to 494212.22.6
50 to 991020.50.8
100 to 199390.20.3
200 or more240.10.2
Total businesses18,959100.0100.0

The ABS Business Register is extracted from the Australian Business Register maintained by the ATO. It is a count of businesses with an Australian Business Number (ABN) on the Australian Business Register that are actively registered for GST (i.e. actively trading).

The ABS Business Register does not include:

  • entities without an ABN - mainly individuals whose business activities fall under the threshold for GST compliance and whose taxation obligations can be satisfied under the Personal Income Tax System
  • ABNs without a GST role – mainly businesses with turnover <$50,000pa, not-for-profit institutions with turnover of <$100,000 or entities whose activities do not involve trading in goods or services (eg investment vehicles)
  • Businesses that have ceased trading - no longer actively remitting GST obligations
  • Establishment of new locations associated with an existing business
  • Entities not considered to be actively trading in the market sector, including:
    • Central Bank
    • General Government – this particularly affects data for Education and Health and Community Services and means that institutions such as public universities, public schools, public hospitals and other public education and health organisations are not included in this data.
  • Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households
  • Charitable Institution
  • Social and Sporting Clubs
  • Trade Unions and Other Associations
  • Other Unincorporated Entity
  • Diplomatic or Trade Missions, Other Foreign Government
  • Private Households Employing Staff

The ABS Business Register does include:

  • employing and non-employing businesses
  • Single location and multiple location businesses
  • Entities with complex business structure - the business is assessed and broken up into Type of Activity Units (TAUs). The statistical unit referred to as a "business" thus consists of ABNs and TAUs

Detailed information about this data set, including summary findings from the national dataset by industry sector, can be found at this location on the ABS website.

The ABS Business Register is published annually and economy.id® incorporates the latest release of this data which is a snapshot as at 1 June 2007. This data should not be used in time series due to changes in scope and methodology.

Data source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Business Register 2007. Cat. No. 8165.0

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Business Register 2009. Cat. No. 8165.0

NOTE: "No employees" contains sole proprietors where the proprietor does not receive a wage or salary separate to the business income.

Please refer to the data notes for more information.

Registered businesses by employment size, The Hills Shire Council 2009 No employees, Sydney SD: 58.8% 1 to 4 , Sydney SD: 27.1% 5 to 19, Sydney SD: 10.2% 20 to 49, Sydney SD: 2.6% 50 to 99, Sydney SD: 0.8% 100 to 199, Sydney SD: 0.3% 200 or more, Sydney SD: 0.2% No employees, The Hills Shire Council: 57.5% 1 to 4 , The Hills Shire Council: 29.3% 5 to 19, The Hills Shire Council: 10.1% 20 to 49, The Hills Shire Council: 2.2% 50 to 99, The Hills Shire Council: 0.5% 100 to 199, The Hills Shire Council: 0.2% 200 or more, The Hills Shire Council: 0.1%
Status Box
Area: 0
Data: 0
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