Ai Group Australian Industry Index - July 2024

Key findings

• The contraction in the Australian Industry Index® eased slightly in July but continued to point towards challenging conditions.
• Indicators for activity/sales, inputs, and employment all improved for a second month, but remain in negative territory.
• New orders remained flat at -34.0, weighing heavily on the Aii and indicating broad-based weakness across future order books
• Pricing indicators rose again, particularly for wages as annual increases and award wage indexing took effect in the month
• Most sub-industries showed mild improvements in July, but construction was flat and chemicals posted a major decline.

The contractionary conditions in the Ai Group Australian Industry Index® continued but eased slightly in July 2024, lifting 5.0 points to -20.7 points (seasonally adjusted). The index has indicated contraction for the last twenty-seventh months.