The Grattan Institute has released research showing that electorates in urban areas are now the hardest hit by the COVID-19 economic shock, with Sydney and Melbourne hardest hit:
Our previous analysis of job losses to mid-April showed that rural electorates, particularly those in Queensland and NSW with large tourism industries, had lost a greater share of jobs than city electorates…
Now, new data to 30 May shows that previously hard-hit rural electorates recovered some of their lost jobs through May…
Job gains since mid-April have been strongest in hospitality and retail, which regained 7.3 and 3.4 per cent of the jobs lost since 14 March…
The new data show that nine of the 10 hardest hit electorates are now either inner- or outer-metropolitan…
Many of the-hardest hit electorates in urban areas have suffered further job losses since mid-April. One reason is the sharp fall in second jobs, which in part reflects the fact that JobKeeper payments are limited to a single job for an individual employee. People who live in inner-city electorates are more likely to hold multiple jobs…
These ‘second-round’ job losses may well intensify even as job losses from COVID-19 in sectors directly affected by spatial distancing continue to dissipate as the economy reopens…
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
