- More than two in five small business decision-makers are very concerned about business survival.
- One-third of businesses have reduced their
- Satisfaction with the Federal Government’s stimulus package increased to 58% from 54% last
Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic has become the major concern of small business owners according to the latest COVID-19 SME Weekly Research Tracker. The number of small to medium Australian businesses that are very concerned about their survival has jumped from a third to 41 per cent.
Concern about survival is evident across all industry sectors, however, those in Hospitality, Retail and the Construction industries are particularly concerned following large downturn in revenue streams due to coronavirus restrictions.
The survey suggests reduced sales and a lack of confidence in business conditions has resulted in over a third of businesses to cut back on staff, with one in five (21 per cent) slashing staff numbers by more than 50 per cent.
The COVID-19 SME Weekly Tracker is conducted by leading business market research firm ACA Research in partnership with TEG Insights and tracks the impact of COVID-19 across more than 300 small and medium enterprises each week.
While businesses are concerned for their futures in this climate of uncertainty, ACA Research Managing Director, James Organ says there is still optimism in the sector with over half (58 per cent) of small businesses surveyed expressing satisfaction with the Federal Government’s stimulus package, including the JobKeeper program.
“The Australian SME landscape remains in a very vulnerable state with growing concerns about business survival in the wake of COVID-19. However, business decision-makers in SME’s are becoming more positive about the Government stimulus package, the actions taken to stop the spread of the virus and the ongoing communication. With payments starting to flow into SME bank accounts very soon, we will be watching these satisfaction levels with interest.”
“With an increasingly positive response to stimulus and support measures and the ongoing flattening of the curve, we are also cautiously confident that the health and wellbeing of SME decision-makers will continue to improve. This week we can report that 64% are concerned about their personal health compared to 74 per cent last week.”
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