Measuring Output of Government Administration, Defence and Property and Business Services: Some Estimates for Australia

This paper examines the current national accounts measure of real output for three major service industries in Australia. It finds that real output measures for government administration services; defence services; and property and business services are unsatisfactory. Alternative estimates are presented for government administration services and defence services for the period 1986/87-1993/94. The estimates for government administration services compare well with the current national accounts measure, whereas for defence services they indicate that real output has grown less quickly than previously thought. No estimates for property and business services are presented due to lack of data.