Highlights
- Australian small businesses saw revenue fall by 11 per cent during the height of the pandemic.
- And while government support has cushioned the blow, the manufacturing sector is driving the global recovery.
- The JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments cushioned the impact of the pandemic, but it has still taken a major toll.
The employment software firm, Xero, has millions of clients across the world and its Managing Director Trent Innes says that has enabled it to gather global insights into the impact of the pandemic.
"Each government dealt with it differently so from a revenue perspective Australia was actually the least impacted. At its worst it only fell 9.2 per cent compared with 40 per cent in New Zealand and 24 per cent in the UK"
The report found the severity of lockdowns had a direct impact on revenue.
And as restrictions were eased - small business rapidly bounced back.
In August, Australia had 1.4 per cent year-on-year revenue growth overall- but Victorian small businesses were down 3.8 per cent year-on-year.
Small business jobs numbers lifted 8 per cent since May but are still 5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
A new study by Alliance found two thirds of local small businesses had adapted their model to survive the pandemic, but half of them are worried they will run out of cash by December.
Peter Strong, the chief executive of the Chamber of Small Businesses of Australia - wants the Federal Government to focus on retraining those who lose their jobs and helping small businesses re-open when they can.
