The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the biggest shock to have hit the world in recent times. The economic disruption brought about by the new coronavirus has hit businesses worldwide, and that includes New Zealand businesses.

In New Zealand, many people have lost their means of livelihood. As of the 26th of June, 2020, there are 200,000 people who currently receive Jobseeker Support or get the emergency COVID-19 unemployment payment.

As of March 2020, both small to medium businesses have lost around 24,000 employees.

On Wednesday the 5th of August 2020 Statistics New Zealand is set to release more information about layoffs and job losses.

Transport
According to predictions from the stables of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), around 130,000 jobs that are associated with air transport and tourism will be lost.

According to Infometrics data, 4,100 jobs have been lost in the aviation industry that normally employs 22,900 people.

Gambling
New Zealand’s Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) is set to cut 230 jobs, and that includes 150 permanent staff, at the (TAB) Totalisator Agency Board as a result of the disruption brought about by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and switching to gambling online as staying at home.

RITA mentioned that the cuts, which affects 30% of all the staff of TAB, should provide annual cost savings of over NZD$11m (£5.5m/€6.2m/$6.8m).

The news comes just after RITA conducted a consultation over a couple of proposed changes to the TAB, including layoffs.

According to RITA, it had “no alternative” to the layoffs, also pointing out that the monthly revenue from TAB was almost 50% less than the forecasts, and customer numbers have gone down below 35%.

According to McKenzie, the people at TAB are incredibly experienced, talented and committed, and they have delivered so much to not only their customers but to the wider racing industry over several years. He added that they would be very sorry to see these workers go.

As a result of the cuts, most of the services offered by the TAB have currently been reduced or suspended. Also, the Trackside Radio channel won’t be resuming broadcasts after being suspended together with racing in March. Trackside television broadcasts are also set to operate with a reduced number of presenters and cameras, and the presenters will only appear from a studio instead of on-course, except for marquee race meets.

These hits on the gambling industry is an effect of reduced activities by punters, possibly caused by job loss in other aspects of the economy.

Tourism
Without the patronage of international visitors, it is estimated that the job opportunities in tourism will reduce by 91%. Currently, domestic travel is likely to fall by 21%. This will most likely limit job opportunities even further.

According to reports by Infometrics, 46,00 out of 229,600 jobs have so far been lost in the industry.

Industries connected to tourism such as vehicle rental, aviation, hospitality and retail are also predicted to experience job loss. For example, transporters like taxi drivers in big cities have experienced a massive drop in customers.

Going by Infometrics data, the museum industry has presently lost 500 out of 3,400 jobs. There have been as many as 900 job losses in the travel industry, from a total of 10,400 jobs. The accommodation has also experienced a loss of 15,000 jobs out of 37,000 jobs.

However, certain tourism businesses in Auckland and Wellington may greatly benefit if it is possible to set up a travel bubble with other countries with COVID-19 rates that are similar.

Conclusion
There are a good number of industries, such as real estate, beauty services, recruitment, manufacturing, construction, importing and exporting, manufacturing and forestry saw a business drop or stopover lockdown. As a result, many businesses closed, and many jobs were lost. People and businesses are in search of better ways to stay afloat as the world is set to experience a second wave of the coronavirus.