A MILDURA business leader is “optimistic” that hundreds of Sunraysia businesses will avoid falling off an economic cliff after the Federal Government’s JobKeeper payments came to an end on Sunday.
The government’s latest data shows there were 522 businesses in the region still on JobKeeper this month, with Treasury forecasting a rise in unemployment after the $101 billion program ended.
“We believe that in the order of 100,000 to 150,000 JobKeeper recipients may lose employment at the completion of the program, though there is a wide band of uncertainty around this estimate,” Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy told a Senate estimates hearing last week.
“Employment will continue to increase over the course of this year, although the unemployment rate could rise a little over coming months before resuming its downward trajectory,” Dr Kennedy said.
However, Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington said he was hopeful the strengthening local economy would limit the number of business collapses.
“It’s still a bit of an unknown of just how many businesses will be significantly impacted by the end of the program,” Mr Millington said on Sunday.
“But I am optimistic that with the strength returning in the economy and the rising expenditure I’ve seen locally in the last few months, we’ll come out of this not too badly affected.
“There will, of course, be businesses and organisations that will struggle (without the government support), but the local economy overall is heading in the right direction.”
He said that spending in the region’s economy in December 2020 was “up in the $90 million range for the month”.
“This is above what we experienced in the previous two years in any month,” Mr Millington said.
“There was a dip in February, which happened across every region of Australia when school went back, and there’s the Christmas holidays spending hangover.
“But it picked back up again in the March long weekend, and as we head into the Easter long weekend it’s really picking up and accommodation bookings are looking really strong.”
He said that some businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, were struggling to find skilled workers.
“Some of these businesses usually get 80 applications for an advertised position, but they are only getting five or fewer now,” Mr Millington said.
“One was a local bakery, and other bigger businesses are reporting the same drop in applicants.
“Finding a qualified chef at the moment is like digging for gold.”
Among the main reasons behind the absence of skilled workers, he said, was the “reluctance for change” during a pandemic, as well as the reduced movement of skilled backpackers.
“The skilled backpackers who usually come out to Australia are just not there at the moment, and we’re not seeing the usual city-to-country movement of these people (as part of their visa requirements),” Mr Millington said.
“So it’s not just the agricultural sector where there is a shortage of workers in our region.”
