The professional services sector leads all others when it comes to the size of its superannuation bill, closely followed by the manufacturing sector and well in front of the mining sector, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Employers in the professional, scientific and technical services sector paid $4.97 billion in super contributions in 2010-11, according to the ABS's Australian Industry publication released last week.
Those contributions were up 2 per cent from $4.88 billion in 2009-10 and totalled 9 per cent of the industry's total wages and salary bill of $56.56 billion in 2010-11.
In the manufacturing sector, employers paid $4.72 billion into super during 2010-11, down slightly from $4.73 billion a year earlier. That was also around 9 per cent of a total wages and salary bill of $53.12 billion in 2010-11.
The construction industry comes in third, where employers paid $4.60 billion into super, a jump in contributions of 17 per cent from $3.92 billion in 2009-10.
Those contributions amounted to 10 per cent of the construction sector's total salary and wages bill of $47.43 billion.
Other industries with a big super bill include the retail sector, where employers paid $3.28 billion into super in 2010-11, or 9 per cent of a total wages and salary bill of $37.21 billion.
Those contributions represented a 9 per cent jump from $3.0 billion in 2009-10.
In the health sector, employers paid $3.14 billion into super, representing 9 per cent of a total salary and wages bill of $34.87 billion in 2010-11.
Those contributions jumped 18 per cent from $2.67 billion in contributions a year earlier.
In the wholesale trade sector, employers paid $2.99 billion into super, also 9 per cent of a total wages and salary bill of $32.50 billion, and up 5 per cent from $2.84 billion in 2009-10.
In the mining industry, in contrast, employers paid only $1.62 billion into super, amounting to 8 per cent of a total salary and wages bill of $19.14 billion. The value of contributions, however, jumped 23 per cent from $1.32 billion in the previous financial year.
