Media release
Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
Exports vital for high living standards
Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, today released a report highlighting the vital role exports play in supporting Australia's high living standards.
"Exports are vital to the standard of living that Australians enjoy," Mr Vaile said.
Releasing "Why Australia Needs Exports" - prepared by Austrade and the UNSW's Centre for Applied Economics (CAER) - Mr Vaile said the report provided hard evidence on why exports were good for workers, education and training, and good for innovation.
"Exporters differ from companies that don't export in many ways. For example, they pay their staff much more, on average $17,400 a year more than non-exporting businesses," Mr Vaile said. (Exporters pay staff an average $46,000 compared with $28,600 for non-exporters)
"Exporters provide their staff with safer, healthier workplaces. They provide more training and are more committed to career development. Exporters provide staff with a greater share of full-time jobs than non-exporters (91% to 69%) and a greater proportion of permanent jobs (90% to 72%).
"Exporters are innovative and more likely to introduce a new good or service than non-exporters (50% to 15%). They're more connected to the 'new economy' with 69 percent using the Internet, compared with 28 percent of non-exporters.
"By exporting, Australian businesses compete with the best companies in the world and are therefore driven to be innovative and use the most modern technology and management practices. Australian exporters pick up knowledge and technology from global markets and bring them home for the benefit of all Australians," Mr Vaile said.
Associate Professor of Economics and Deputy Director of CAER, Peter Kriesler, said students and the community in general should know about the importance of exporting to Australia's standard of living.
"This report will be an important part of Australia's economic education and will be useful to economics and business students in both our secondary schools and universities," he said.
Why Australia Needs Exports: The Economic Case for Exporting follows on from the recently published Australian Bureau of Statistics / Austrade joint survey of Australian Exporters (see 'A Portrait of Australian Exporters' ABS Cat.8154.0) which was launched in August.
Contacts: Bruce Mills 02 6277 7420
Copies of the report: Tim Harcourt tel 02 9390 2166 fax 02 9390 2115, email: tim.harcourt@austrade.gov.au
Local Date: Sunday, 12-Feb-2012 10:19:22 EST