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Australian Government COVID‐19 Business Supports

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  • Timothy Watson
  • Paul Buckingham

Abstract

This article documents the considerable economic support provided to businesses by the Australian Government in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find that measures were associated with higher levels of business profitability and savings, a strong recovery in payroll jobs and wages, and mixed effects with respect to business dynamism. We formally evaluate the SME Cashflow Boost, finding costs per job‐year saved in the vicinity of $72–83,000 ($US51–59,000) over its first year, implying between 400 and 500,000 job‐years saved over this period. Combined with results from previous studies, this suggests between 1.1 and 1.3 million job‐years were saved by the SME Cashflow Boost and JobKeeper Payment over their respective first years post‐announcement.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy Watson & Paul Buckingham, 2023. "Australian Government COVID‐19 Business Supports," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(1), pages 124-140, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:56:y:2023:i:1:p:124-140
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeff Borland, 2025. "Decline to boom to slowdown: Australia’s labour market in the COVID- 19 era," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2025n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Md. Nazmus Sakib & Md. Mahbubur Rahman, 2024. "Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs Through Government Policy Intervention: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.

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