Nearly 2000 Northern Territory businesses relying on JobKeeper which is being cut today

ABOUT half of all businesses which sought JobKeeper support are still reliant on the wage subsidy program which is being cut today

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ABOUT half of all businesses which sought JobKeeper support are still reliant on the wage subsidy program which is being cut today.

New Australian Taxation Office data shows 520,373 businesses were receiving wage subsidies in December – but this has plummeted from the 1.036 million businesses on the scheme at the end of October.

In the NT, 1979 businesses were still receiving JobKeeper last month.

Victoria remains the state most reliant on the wage subsidy program with 196,900 needing financial support, followed by NSW at 167,946 and Queensland at 81,301.

In the December quarter, about $7bn was paid out in wage subsidies alone.

And the industries with the most businesses on JobKeeper payments included construction (89,600), professional, science and technical services (78,800), transport, postal and warehousing (52,200), other services (45,000), administrative and support services (33,000), accommodation and food services (30,600) and retail (28,960).

From today, JobKeeper payments will be reduced from $1200 per fortnight to $1000 per fortnight for workers on more than 20 hours per week.

For employees working fewer than 20 hours a week, JobKeeper payments will drop from $750 to $650 a fortnight.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the nation’s economy was rebounding as hundreds of thousands of Australians returned to work – but there was still some way to go.

“With 734,000 jobs created over the last six months our economic recovery is well underway, with fewer businesses and employees in need of JobKeeper and other temporary economic supports,” he said.

“That said, JobKeeper continues to be an economic lifeline to more than half a million businesses employing around 1.6 million Australians in the December quarter.”

Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia’s chief executive officer Peter Strong said many businesses would be reassessing staff numbers as JobKeeper was wound back.

“They will work out how many staff they can keep and they will be making decisions based on projected income, and that income will be less because JobKeeper is going.”

“In January for some businesses it’s a good month, while for others they are probably closed anyway.”

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DECEMBER QUARTER JOBKEEPER PAYMENTS (up until Dec 22) 

FIGURES Entities Payments

NT 1979 $29.3 million

Victoria 196,900 $2.787 billion

NSW 167,946 $2.256 billion

Qld 81,301 $1.08 billion

WA 35,969 $440.8 million

SA 24,528 $319.3 million

Tas 6680 $93.7 million

ACT 5070 $82.8 million

TOTAL 520,373 $7.09 billion

Source: Australian Taxation Office.

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