Science is a major contributor to the Australian economy: report

Advanced physical and mathematical sciences make a direct contribution of around $145 billion a year to the Australian economy or about 11 per cent of GDP, according to a landmark economic report released today.

The report, entitled The importance of advanced physical and mathematical sciences to the Australian economy, was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Australian Academy of Science and produced by the Centre for International Economics (CIE). It details how physics, mathematics, chemistry and earth sciences benefit the Australian economy.

Other key findings of the report include:

• When the flow-on impacts of these sciences are included, the economic benefit of these scientific fields expand to about $292 billion a year, or 22 per cent of the nation’s economic activity.
• 7 per cent of total Australian employment (about 760,000 jobs) is directly related to the advanced physical and mathematical sciences.
• Exports associated with the advanced physical and mathematical sciences activities are worth around $74 billion a year. This is 28 per cent of Australia’s goods exports and equivalent to 23 per cent of total Australian exports of goods and services.
• Labour productivity of workers in the advanced physical and mathematical sciences is estimated to be 75 per cent greater than workers in the rest of the economy.

The figures in the report are conservative and only include the economic benefits of discoveries and innovations implemented in the past 20 years in physics, chemistry, earth sciences and the mathematical sciences.

The report will be launched today at Parliament House in Canberra by Australia's Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb, CIE executive director David Pearce, and the chair of the National Committee for Physics Professor Hans Bachor.

A copy of the report can be found at www.chiefscientist.gov.au and www.science.org.au/publications/science-impacts-economy.

Home page photo credit: Martin Kingsley from Melbourne, Australia 'Cashmoney'