With JobKeeper set to end at the end of March, new research highlights a growing number of small-business owners who worry that the end of the scheme is going to have an adverse effect on their business.
According to the latest Sensis Business Index for January, the number of small-business owners saying the loss of JobKeeper will have a major impact on their business has grown from 29 per cent in November, to 31 per cent in December to 39 per cent in January. A further 51 per cent have said it will have a moderate impact.
Meanwhile, 10 per cent have said the end of JobKeeper will make no difference. This is also a decline from 18 per cent recorded back in November.
“We can see over just three months that the attitude of business owners has changed,” Sensis CEO, John Allan, said. “Despite a growing chorus of voices asking the Federal Government to keep JobKeeper in place for certain industries, it doesn’t look like the Government will change its mind and that will put a lot of these businesses under pressure to survive.”
Allan said the survey showed businesses in Western Australia had a major change, with the December figure of 12 per cent saying the loss of JobKeeper would have a major impact jumping to an astonishing 56 per cent in January.
“Since taking the survey in January, where 56 per cent of small-medium businesses felt the loss of JobKeeper would have a major impact, Perth has gone into a five-day lockdown and new restrictions have been introduced in Victoria,” Allan explained.
“This is likely to exacerbate the loss of business confidence in both states and dent the performance of the local economy. Whilst WA’s impact has risen considerably, there has also been a jump in NSW moving from 33 per cent in December to 45 per cent in the same period.”
Allan believes that many businesses will turn to the JobMaker program as a way to increase their headcounts.
“There is $200 per week available for new employees aged 16 to 29 and up to $100 a week for employees aged 30 to 35, Allan said. “It adds up to $10,400 or $5,200 annually, which will be a significant amount for some businesses.”
