Australia recorded a net increase of 85,130 actively trading businesses in 2025–26 — and almost 98 percent of that net rise came from businesses without employees.
ABS figures for 2025–26: growth without jobs
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data cited by the source show a stark split in that annual change. Non‑employing businesses increased by 83,105 over the year, while the number of employing businesses rose by just 2,025. The same data record a net movement of 28,127 surviving businesses from employing to non‑employing.
Those numbers do not explain why firms stopped employing, or whether existing employers expanded their headcounts. But they frame the central question: is policy making it easier for a sole trader to become an employer?
Regulatory "hairballs" and the cost of cumulation
The source argues that owners do not experience payroll, tax, insurance, workers’ compensation, employment law, licensing, reporting, cybersecurity and industry regulation as separate administrative items. They arrive together — and so do rising energy, freight, materials and wage costs — often “on the same desk.”
That cumulative effect echoes the Productivity Commission’s description of accumulated regulation as creating regulatory “hairballs,” with fixed compliance costs able to become a competitive advantage for larger firms. Expansion frequently requires additional spending and responsibilities before it generates extra revenue; the timing and cashflow mismatch can deter hiring and investment.
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Protect the town officeSeptember’s working holiday visa changes and regional exposures
The source points to the September working holiday visa changes as an example of cross‑portfolio decisions testing the government’s small‑business objectives. The government argues that lower migration will give housing supply time to catch up. Industry representatives in Far North Queensland and Western Australia, however, warn of consequences for construction, agriculture and tourism.
Tourism Council WA identified Exmouth, Broome and Kununurra as particularly exposed. Those local warnings do not settle the broader migration debate, the source notes, but they do test whether the commitment to “making growth easier” influences decisions outside the small‑business portfolio.
Access, expertise and uneven costs for regional owners
The source — writing from the vantage of a regional small‑business owner and consultant and identifying herself as a female founder building a business in regional Australia — highlights how access to government and support bears uneven costs. Regional owners often must travel to meet decision‑makers, attend events or build networks, creating expenses and time away from running the business. Proximity enables repeated contact that makes information and opportunities easier to get over time.
Access to expertise is another barrier. Preparing grant applications, developing business cases or meeting procurement requirements takes time and specialist knowledge. A locally delivered workshop may help with general skills, the source says, but it cannot replace the tailored, specialist advice a business needs to pursue a viable investment. As a result, support can be easiest to access for businesses already equipped to navigate the system.
What this means for small‑business ministers, regional owners, and local communities
- Small‑business ministers: The National Small Business Strategy commits governments to improving the operating environment and supporting growth. The source urges ministers to use the strategy to challenge policies in other portfolios that work against its objectives and to report on which barriers they have addressed.
- Regional business owners: Owners need support that accounts for commercial realities — choice of suitably qualified providers where practical, and evaluation focused on whether programs enable decision and implementation, not just participation counts.
- Local communities and supply‑chain buyers: In regional economies, losing an employer or supplier can leave fewer alternatives; employing businesses train apprentices, supply local goods and services, and underpin resilience for larger projects and governments.
The practical promise of a national strategy, the source argues, lies in forcing governments to consider the combined effects of their decisions on whether businesses choose to employ, invest and grow. That promise will be tested not by counting participants in workshops and grants but by the conditions business owners face when they weigh the very ordinary decision to hire one more person.
Source: Australia’s small business strategy must make employing and growing easier — The Strategist
