Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

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Insights into the prevalence and nature of impacts from COVID-19 on businesses operating in Australia

Reference period

May 2020

Released

28/05/2020

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Key statistics

72% of businesses had less income as a result of COVID-19.
74% of businesses actively trading changed how they operate.
73% of businesses accessed support measures.
Social distancing restrictions are expected to impact 71% percent of businesses over the next two months.

Business impacts of COVID-19 survey

This publication provides information on the incidence and nature of impacts due to COVID-19, as experienced by businesses operating in Australia. The survey was conducted between 13 May and 22 May 2020.

Topics covered in this release include:

Operating conditions of businesses;
Changes in revenue and finance arrangements;
Changes in employee arrangements;
Future business impacts and conditions.

The collection was conducted through a telephone based business survey between 13 May and 22 May 2020, with a sample size of 2,564 businesses. The final response rate was 56% (1,430 responding businesses).

This release forms part of the suite of additional products that the ABS is producing to measure the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Future information collected in this survey will evolve to maintain relevance in a changing environment.

Operating conditions of businesses

Overall, 74% of actively trading businesses reported that they were operating under modified conditions due to COVID-19.

Business operating conditions as a result of COVID-19
	Operating conditions (%)
Operating as normal(a)	26
Operating under modified conditions(a)(b)	74

Business operating conditions as a result of COVID-19

["","Operating conditions"]

[["Operating as normal(a)","Operating under modified conditions(a)(b)"],[[26],[74]]]

[]

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Proportions are of businesses currently trading.
Modified conditions include shifting more operations online, or operating with a reduced workforce.

By employment size, the proportion of actively trading businesses operating under modified conditions were:

73% of small businesses (i.e. 0-19 persons employed);
82% of medium sized businesses (i.e. 20-199 persons employed);
87% of large businesses (i.e. 200 or more persons employed).

Operating status of businesses, by industry(a)
	Operating as normal (%)	Operating under modified conditions (%)
Information Media and Telecommunications	4	96
Health Care and Social Assistance	7	93
Accommodation and Food Services	8	92
Education and Training	9	91
Arts and Recreation Services	11	89
Manufacturing	12	88
Transport, Postal and Warehousing	13	87
Administrative and Support Services	20	80
Wholesale Trade	22	78
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services	22	78
Retail Trade	23	77
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services	28	72
Other Services	30	70
Construction	35	65
Mining	37	63
Financial and Insurance Services	37	63
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	43	57

Operating status of businesses, by industry(a)

["","Operating as normal","Operating under modified conditions"]

[["Information Media and Telecommunications","Health Care and Social Assistance","Accommodation and Food Services","Education and Training","Arts and Recreation Services","Manufacturing","Transport, Postal and Warehousing","Administrative and Support Services","Wholesale Trade","Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services","Retail Trade","Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services","Other Services","Construction","Mining","Financial and Insurance Services","Professional, Scientific and Technical Services"],[[4],[7],[8],[9],[11],[12],[13],[20],[22],[22],[23],[28],[30],[35],[37],[37],[43]],[[96],[93],[92],[91],[89],[88],[87],[80],[78],[78],[77],[72],[70],[65],[63],[63],[57]]]

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Proportions are of businesses currently trading.

The ability for businesses to operate as normal has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; more than 50% of businesses in every industry reported operating under modified conditions.

The largest proportions of businesses that reported operating under modified conditions were in the Information media and telecommunications (96%), Health care and social assistance (93%), Accommodation and food services (92%) and Education and training (91%) industries.

Changes in revenue and finance arrangements

Revenue impacts of COVID-19

Overall, 72% of all businesses reported decreased revenue as a result of COVID-19.

How COVID-19 has impacted the revenue of businesses(a)(b)
	All businesses (%)
Revenue decreased	72
Revenue stayed the same	22
Revenue increased	7

How COVID-19 has impacted the revenue of businesses(a)(b)

["","All businesses"]

[["Revenue decreased","Revenue stayed the same","Revenue increased"],[[72],[22],[7]]]

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Proportions are of all businesses.
The sum of the component items do not equal 100% due to rounding.

By employment size, 71% of small businesses (i.e. 0-19 persons employed) reported that revenue had decreased as a result of COVID-19 compared with 78% of medium businesses (i.e. 20-199 persons employed) and 73% of large businesses (i.e. 200 or more persons employed).

Businesses operating under modified conditions were more than twice as likely to report a decrease in revenue compared to those that were operating normally (83% compared with 37%).

Changes in business revenue, by operational status(a)

Businesses operating as normal(a)
	Decreased (%)	Stayed the same (%)	Increased (%)
0-19 persons	37	53	10
20-199 persons	35	60	5
200 or more persons	70	21	9
All businesses	37	54	10

Businesses operating as normal(a)

["","Decreased","Stayed the same","Increased"]

[["0-19 persons","20-199 persons","200 or more persons","All businesses"],[[37],[35],[70],[37]],[[53],[60],[21],[54]],[[10],[5],[9],[10]]]

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Proportions are of businesses currently trading in each employment size category.

Businesses operating under modified conditions(a)
	Decreased (%)	Stayed the same (%)	Increased (%)
0-19 persons	83	10	6
20-199 persons	86	11	3
200 or more persons	74	19	6
All businesses	83	11	6

Businesses operating under modified conditions(a)

["","Decreased","Stayed the same","Increased"]

[["0-19 persons","20-199 persons","200 or more persons","All businesses"],[[83],[86],[74],[83]],[[10],[11],[19],[11]],[[6],[3],[6],[6]]]

[]

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Proportions are of businesses currently trading in each employment size category.

Four in five small businesses (83%) operating under modified conditions reported that revenue had decreased as a result of COVID-19, compared with 37% of small businesses that were operating as normal.

By industry, businesses in Transport, postal and warehousing were the most likely to report a reduction in revenue (95%).

Over half of all businesses in Retail trade (53%) reported that that revenue had decreased as a result of COVID-19, however, 44% of businesses in this industry reported that revenue had increased as a result of the pandemic.

Business access to support measures

Businesses reported whether they accessed support measures as a result of COVID-19:

over half (55%) of all businesses reported that they had accessed wage subsidies (e.g. JobKeeper, apprenticeship wage subsidies etc.);
approximately one in five (19%) businesses reported having renegotiated property rent or lease arrangements;
16% of all businesses reported that they had deferred loan repayments;
38% of all businesses reported that they had accessed other government support measures.

Business access to support measures, by employment size(a)
	Deferred loan repayments (%)	Renegotiated property rent/lease arrangements (%)	Accessed wage subsidies (%)	Accessed other government support measures (%)
Small businesses (0-19 persons)	16	18	55	37
Medium businesses (20-199 persons)	15	27	61	44
Large businesses (200 or more persons)	12	32	44	31

Business access to support measures, by employment size(a)

["","Deferred loan repayments","Renegotiated property rent\/lease arrangements","Accessed wage subsidies","Accessed other government support measures"]

[["Small businesses (0-19 persons)","Medium businesses (20-199 persons)","Large businesses (200 or more persons)"],[[16],[15],[12]],[[18],[27],[32]],[[55],[61],[44]],[[37],[44],[31]]]

[]

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Proportions are of all businesses.
Businesses could provide more than one response to the question.

By selected industry:

More than two thirds of businesses in Education and training (67%) and almost three in five businesses in Arts and recreation services (57%) reported having accessed wage subsidies as a result of COVID-19.
Over a quarter of businesses in Accommodation and food services (27%) reported having deferred loan payments.
Renegotiation of property or lease arrangements was reported by more than a quarter of businesses in the Health care and social assistance industry (26%).

Businesses that sought additional funds

One in ten Australian businesses (11%) reported they had sought additional funds as a result of COVID-19.

Source of additional funds

Of the 11% of all businesses that sought additional funds, over half (57%) of these businesses sought additional funds from financial institutions. A quarter of businesses (26%) reported having sought additional funds from the business owners’ personal line of credit or savings.

Source of additional funds for businesses(a)(b)
	Source of additional funds (%)
Bank or Financial institution	57
Owners' personal line of credit or savings	26
Friends or family of existing owners	15
Other individuals	4
Other businesses	21

Source of additional funds for businesses(a)(b)

["","Source of additional funds"]

[["Bank or Financial institution","Owners' personal line of credit or savings","Friends or family of existing owners","Other individuals","Other businesses"],[[57],[26],[15],[4],[21]]]

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Proportions are of businesses that sought additional funds.
Businesses could provide more than one response to the question.

Changes in employee arrangements

Information was sought from businesses about selected changes in their employee arrangements in response to COVID-19.

More than half of all businesses (53%) reported that hours worked by staff had reduced, while a quarter (24%) reported having reduced the total number of employees working for the business.

Changes to employee arrangements in response to COVID-19, by employment size(a)(b)

	Reduction in the total number of employees	Hours worked by staff currently employed reduced	Reduced the hourly rate of pay for any employees	Applied a wage freeze for any employees	Staff on paid leave	Staff on unpaid leave
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Small (0-19 persons)	23	53	5	4	6	5
Medium (20-199 persons)	51	56	8	12	35	22
Large (200 or more persons)	41	51	9	11	33	32
All businesses	24	53	5	4	8	6

a. Proportions are of all businesses.
b. Businesses could provide more than one response to the question.

Large businesses were almost twice as likely to report a reduction in the total number of employees working for the business, compared with small businesses (41% and 23% respectively).

Of the businesses that were operating under modified conditions, two thirds (67%) reported changes to employee arrangements, compared to 26% of business trading as normal.

Future business impacts and conditions

Expected impact of government restrictions

Businesses were asked to what extent they expected government restrictions to impact the business in the next 2 months.

Expected impact of government restrictions in the next two months, by extent of impact(a)(b)

	Not at all	Small to moderate extent	To a great extent
	%	%	%
Restrictions on trading	37	35	29
Social distancing restrictions	29	46	25
Travel restrictions	50	24	27

a. Proportions are of all businesses.
b. The sum of some of the component items do not equal 100% due to rounding.

By industry, businesses in Accommodation and food services (75%) and Arts and recreation services (67%) were the most likely to report that trading restrictions are expected to impact the business to a great extent over the next two months. Businesses in these two industries were also the most likely to report that they expect social distancing restrictions to impact the businesses to a great extent over the next two months (50% and 68% respectively).

Businesses in Mining were the least likely to report that they expect trading restrictions and social distancing restrictions to impact the business to a great extent over the next two months; however, 45% of Mining businesses reported that they expect travel restrictions to impact the business to a great extent over the next two months.

Requirements to return to pre-COVID-19 business conditions

Businesses were asked to report what else, aside from the relaxation of government restrictions, is required in order to return to pre-COVID-19 business conditions. Presented below are the most commonly reported responses by businesses.

Aside from relaxing government restrictions, what is needed for businesses to return to pre-COVID-19 trading conditions?
	Requirement (%)
Increased or returning customer demand	35
Increased cash flow	14
Further government support efforts	13
Access to additional funds	11
Nothing else	29

Aside from relaxing government restrictions, what is needed for businesses to return to pre-COVID-19 trading conditions?

["","Requirement"]

[["Increased or returning customer demand","Increased cash flow","Further government support efforts","Access to additional funds","Nothing else"],[[35],[14],[13],[11],[29]]]

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Proportions are of all businesses.

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

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Technical note - questionnaire

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Supplementary business survey - Business impacts from COVID-19

1	(a) Is your business currently trading?
	☐ Yes [Go to Question 2]
	☐ No [Go to Question 1b]

	(b) Is the halt in business trading a result of COVID-19?
	☐ Yes [Go to Question 3]
	☐ No [End of survey]

2	Since the start of March, what changes has this business made to its operations, as a result of COVID-19?
	☐ None, continued trading as normal
	☐ Continued operating under modified conditions (such as shifting more operations online, or trading with a reduced workforce)

3	How has COVID-19 impacted the revenue of this business?
	☐ Decreased
	☐ Increased
	☐ Remained the same

4	Has this business accessed any of the following support measures as a result of COVID-19? (Yes / No / Don't know)
	☐ Deferred loan repayments
	☐ Renegotiated property rent/lease arrangements
	☐ Wage subsidies (e.g. JobKeeper, apprenticeship wage subsidies)
	☐ Other government support measures
	☐ Other support measures (please specify)

5	Has this business sought any additional funds as a result of COVID-19?
	☐ No
	☐ Yes [Go to Question 5a]

	(a) From which of the following has this business sought additional funds? (select all that apply)
	☐ Business sought additional funds from bank or financial institution
	☐ Owners’ personal line of credit or savings (e.g. redraw facility on an existing loan)
	☐ Friends or family of existing owner(s)
	☐ Other individual(s)
	☐ Other businesses
	☐ Other sources (please specify)

6	Has this business made any of the following changes to its workforce in response to COVID-19: (Yes / No / Don't know)
	☐ Reduced the total number of employees working for this business
	☐ Reduced the number of hours worked by staff currently employed
	☐ Reduced the hourly rate of pay for any employees
	☐ Applied a wage freeze for any employees
	☐ Placed staff on paid leave
	☐ Placed staff on unpaid leave

7	(a) To what extent do you expect the following government restrictions to impact this business in the next 2 months?
	Restrictions on trading such as forced closures or restrictions to on-site operations? (select one only)
	☐ Not at all
	☐ To a small extent
	☐ To a moderate extent
	☐ To a great extent
	Social distancing restrictions? (select one only)
	☐ Not at all
	☐ To a small extent
	☐ To a moderate extent
	☐ To a great extent
	Travel restrictions (including state, interstate and international travel)? (select one only)
	☐ Not at all
	☐ To a small extent
	☐ To a moderate extent
	☐ To a great extent

	(b) Aside from relaxing government restrictions, what is needed for this business to return to its pre-COVID-19 trading conditions? (interviewer coded response)

Data downloads

Business impacts of COVID-19 May 2020

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Methodology

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19 methodology, May 2020

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APA

Citation

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Business impacts of COVID-19 survey

Operating conditions of businesses

Changes in revenue and finance arrangements

Revenue impacts of COVID-19

Changes in business revenue, by operational status(a)

Business access to support measures

Businesses that sought additional funds

Source of additional funds

Changes in employee arrangements

Changes to employee arrangements in response to COVID-19, by employment size(a)(b)

Future business impacts and conditions

Expected impact of government restrictions

Expected impact of government restrictions in the next two months, by extent of impact(a)(b)

Requirements to return to pre-COVID-19 business conditions

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

Show all

Technical note - questionnaire

Show all

Supplementary business survey - Business impacts from COVID-19

Data downloads

Business impacts of COVID-19 May 2020

Methodology

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APA

Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19

APA

Key statistics

Business impacts of COVID-19 survey

Operating conditions of businesses

Changes in revenue and finance arrangements

Revenue impacts of COVID-19

Changes in business revenue, by operational status(a)

Business access to support measures

Businesses that sought additional funds

Source of additional funds

Changes in employee arrangements

Changes to employee arrangements in response to COVID-19, by employment size(a)(b)

Future business impacts and conditions

Expected impact of government restrictions

Expected impact of government restrictions in the next two months, by extent of impact(a)(b)

Requirements to return to pre-COVID-19 business conditions

Business impacts of COVID-19 visual summary

Show all

Technical note - questionnaire

Show all

Supplementary business survey - Business impacts from COVID-19

Data downloads

Business impacts of COVID-19 May 2020

Methodology

Articles

Businesses respond to COVID-19 challenges

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