An Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey on Business Impacts of COVID-19 has found ten percent of business owners expect to shut down if government support measures are withdrawn. About 42 per cent of small businesses are currently accessing support measures.
Two in five (42 per cent) Australian businesses are currently accessing support measures such as wage subsidies, deferring loan repayments or renegotiating rental or lease arrangements, to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data released by the ABS.
The survey showed that more than half of medium businesses (53 per cent) are accessing support measures, compared to 42 per cent of small businesses and 38 per cent of large businesses. A small business is one with 0-19 employees; a medium business has 20-199 employees; and a large business more than 200 employees.
Sue-Ellen Luke, ABS director of technology, innovation and business characteristics statistics said: “Businesses were asked how they expect to respond when these measures are no longer available. The most likely actions reported were to defer or cancel investment plans (16 per cent), change quantity of orders (14 per cent) or reduce the size of their workforce (13 per cent).
“One in ten businesses (10 per cent) reported that if support measures were no longer available, they would expect to close the business.”
This survey is part of a series of additional products the ABS is releasing to measure the economic impact of COVID-19. Data was collected between 15 July and 23 July.
Additional ABS data on the impact of COVID-19 can be found on a dedicated page on the ABS website:
https://www.abs.gov.au/covid19
