• Manufacturing has expanded and contracted (during the twentieth century) in terms
of its contribution to the state’s gross domestic product. A contributing influence
has been the dramatic increase in oil prices, in the second half of the twentieth
century, and the subsequent reorganisation of the steel and automotive industries
(pp.2-14)
• Within manufacturing there has been a significant change in the hierarchy of
output, with food and beverage production currently predominating over metal
products manufacturing (pp.14-17)
• At the same time that manufacturing has contracted, the services sector has
expanded until it now constitutes 73% of economic activity in the state (p.15)
• A significant number of key concerns, within the services sector, were founded and
consolidated during the time when New South Wales was still a colony of Britain
(pp.19.25,34,46,57)
• While challengers, to the old established concerns, have appeared during the
twentieth century, the latter have not only stood their ground but have even (in
some instances) absorbed their competitors (pp.30,41)
• Some components of the services sector have significantly contrasting features.
Finance and insurance, on the one hand, ranks second in terms of value of output
but only eighth in terms of contribution to employment. Retailing, on the other
hand, ranks fourth in value of output but first in terms of contribution to
employment (pp.19,34,42)
• Government policy has played a decisive role in the expansion of certain
components of the services sector (pp.26,28-29,36-37,46-53,57,60)