One in 15 jobs vanish in COVID-19 lockdowns

Queensland lost one in 15 jobs during the pandemic, with some industries copping it a lot worse than others, data shows. And while many workers who held on to their jobs copped a pay cut there was one industry where wages grew during the COVID-19 crisis.

QUEENSLAND lost one in 15 jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, with border closures cramping the Sunshine State’s economic recovery.

New payroll data reveals that lockdown job-shedding has bottomed out, after job numbers rose 1.4 per cent last month as Queensland reopened restaurants and eased restrictions on social gatherings.

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Despite the slow turnaround, COVID-19 lockdowns destroyed 6.7 per cent of jobs in Queensland between the start of the pandemic in mid-March and the end of May.

Young workers copped the deepest cuts, with the pandemic destroying one in six jobs for the under-20s and one in eight jobs for workers in their twenties. Middle-aged workers in their 40s and 50s lost 4 per cent of jobs.

How COVID-19 impacted Queensland jobs.

The safest jobs were in banking or power and water utilities, with just one in 200 jobs lost.

Nearly one in three jobs have vanished in the hospitality and tourism industries, compared to one in 25 jobs in public administration.

Even hospitals, at the coalface of the COVID-19 crisis, have shed 6 per cent of staff during the pandemic.

The mining industry shed 5.8 per cent of its workforce but workers lost 21 per cent of their wages as they were forced to work part-time.

The only industry to record higher wages was education and training, with salaries paid to teachers and other education staff rising 0.7 per cent during the pandemic, despite the shutdown of schools.

The pandemic has wiped out one in 13 jobs in Brisbane’s CBD, Cairns and the Sunshine Coast, and one in 11 jobs on the Gold Coast.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland yesterday warned that more jobs will vanish once JobKeeper payments stop in September, and demanded the state’s borders re-open immediately to boost tourism.

“The businesses that will benefit most from interstate travel are the ones that have been throttled by COVID-19,’’ CCIQ economic and policy adviser Jack Baxter said yesterday.

“Young people have been predominantly impacted because cafes, retailers and accommodation providers, who are all significant employers of our youth workforce, have been forced to close.

“In September, businesses will be forced to fend for themselves (without JobKeeper payments to retain staff) and they will be solely focused on survival, not investing and taking on new staff.’’

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday does not include jobs losses for the self-employed.