The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the results of the first Business Impacts of COVID-19 survey as part of a series of additional product releases over the coming months to help measure the economic impact of coronavirus.
According to the inaugural survey, approximately half of the Australian businesses surveyed (49 per cent) had experienced an adverse impact as a result of COVID-19 in mid-March and 86 per cent of businesses expected to be impacted in future months.
The ABA underlined that the collection period pre-dated the government’s announcement of phase one social distancing measures.
Adverse impacts were most prevalent in accommodation and food services with over three-quarters of businesses (78 per cent) already reporting impacts and 96 per cent of businesses reporting that they expected impacts in coming months.
Businesses in professional, scientific and technical services (21 per cent), electricity, gas and water supply (34 per cent) and businesses in mining (37 per cent) were the least likely to have been adversely impacted by COVID-19 in the collection period.
A reduction in local demand was the most common impact experienced (82 per cent) and was also the most common impact expected in coming months (81 per cent).
Of impacted businesses, over a third had experienced staff shortages (36 per cent) and 59 per cent expected to experience staff shortages in coming months.
