The Sensis research, undertaken by data insights platform Glow, of 500 small businesses nationwide showed that, by industry, 65 per cent of hospitality businesses would not have survived.
By region, 62 per cent of Melbourne businesses and 56 per cent of Canberra businesses would’ve folded without the JobKeeper supplement.
Sensis chief executive John Allan said the research showed each state was affected differently and it also depended on what sector a business was in.
“The overall impact was 44 per cent nationally, but when looking at it from a state perspective, JobKeeper was way more important in Melbourne — at 62 per cent — compared with Hobart, which was nearly half of that at 33 per cent,” Mr Allan said.
“When you look at it from an industry perspective, hospitality was at 65 per cent, retail at 42 per cent, but construction was only at 30 per cent.
“A lot of industry experts were saying that perhaps JobKeeper should have been tiered. As you can see, some sectors are less affected and a business down 30 per cent is probably going to survive, but a business like those in the travel sector who are down 100 per cent probably won’t and the closures show that.”
The survey also revealed that JobKeeper will be critical for small businesses over the coming months, with 47 per cent of businesses saying it was vital to their continued survival.
“The biggest difference was comparing Melbourne to Sydney, with a massive 78 per cent of Melbourne small businesses saying it was critical but just 31 per cent in Sydney. That is a vastly different outlook,” Mr Allan said.
“Looking at it from an industry perspective, JobKeeper moving forward is most critical for culture and recreation at 63 per cent, transport at 62 per cent, hospitality at 59 per cent and retail at 42 per cent.”
