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Economic Contribution Factsheets

CME surveys a sample of its members annually to quantify actual expenditure by the WA resources sector on payment of wages and salaries, business purchases, community contributions, local councils and payments to the State and Commonwealth Government. Through this direct spending, we also estimate the sector’s indirect contributions to the Western Australian and Australian economies through supply chain effects. 

Depending on the quality and volume of the survey responses we receive each year, we aggregate the total number of full-time equivalent jobs and unique counts of vendors (suppliers, charities and agencies) using Australian Business Number identifiers and postcodes. This level of data allows us to allocate expenditure to geographic boundaries, such as the modified and realigned version of Western Australia’s Regional Development Commissions, in the factsheets produced below.

In some years, we supplement this survey data with public data sources such as members’ annual financials, sustainability reports, tax transparency and modern slavery statements. Although this builds a complete picture of the sector’s economic contributions, this expenditure is allocated to the ‘Rest of Australia’ in the first instance rather than Western Australia. 

For technical detail on how our consultant modelled the indirect supply chain spending effects from direct expenditure, please see the methodology statement and the research paper published in the Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy.