Almost 800,000 jobs have disappeared in just three weeks
Almost 800,000 jobs have disappeared in three weeks with young people on low incomes being the worst hit by the coronavirus lockdown.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost between March 14 and April 4, according to payroll data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The number of jobs across the country plunged by six per cent in just three weeks, which equates to 760,000 people without work as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic hit the national economy.
Almost 800,000 jobs have disappeared in three weeks with young people on low incomes being the worst hit by the coronavirus lockdown. Pictured: People queue up outside a Centrelink office in Melbourne on April 20
Head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, Bjorn Jarvis, said the impact was felt hardest by young workers.
‘The largest impact of net job losses, in percentage terms, was for people aged under 20, for whom jobs decreased by 9.9 per cent,’ Mr Jarvis said.
Wages for young people also fell by 12.7 per cent while Australians older than 70 were hit with a 9.7 per cent drop in employment.
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The accommodation and food services sector was the hardest hit, with 940,000 people employed in the industry before the coronavirus pandemic.
There has since been a 25.6 per cent drop in jobs, meaning 240,000 people are now without work.
The figures have been curated from single-tough payroll data from the Australian Tax Office, showing that total wages paid by Australian businesses fell 6.7 per cent in the same time frame.
A woman wears a black facemask on Swanston Street in Melbourne during the coronavirus pandemic
‘Looking at the week-to-week changes, the decrease in jobs in the week ending 4 April 2020 was 5.5 per cent, significantly larger than the 0.5 per cent decrease in the week ending 28 March 2020,’ Mr Jarvis said.
Meanwhile the arts and recreation sector has seen an 18.7 per cent drop in jobs.
The least affected sector was education and training with just 0.1 per cent of people out of work.
Wages across all sectors have also taken a dive with accommodation and food services once again being hit the hardest with wages paid falling 30.1 per cent.
When tighter social distancing rules came into place on March 23, thousands of people queued outside Centrelink offices across Australia when businesses were forced to shut their doors
In arts and recreation wages fell by 15.7 per cent and the total wages across all sectors fell by 6.7 per cent.
The loss of jobs across the country has hit young people the hardest as hospitality and retail stores were forced to close due to social distancing restrictions.
When tighter social distancing rules came into place on March 23, Hp Certification exams thousands of people queued outside Centrelink offices across Australia when businesses were forced to shut their doors.
On the same day Centrelink’s website crashed when more than 100,000 people were trying to claim their benefits.
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