In July 2021, the NSW Government introduced three COVID-19 business support programs in response to the growing Delta COVID-19 outbreak and related lockdown restrictions. The COVID-19 Business Grant, the JobSaver payment and the Micro-business Grant together cost $10.7 billion, and provided support to around 300,000 businesses over five months from July to November 2021.
The Independent Evaluation of the 2021 COVID-19 business support programs (the evaluation) assesses the programs’ impacts and processes. This technical paper details one component of the evaluation – using econometric analysis to assess the impacts of the programs on their key objectives. These objectives included:
- supporting the survival of viable businesses
- supporting employees to remain employed with their current employer (‘employment connections’)
- supporting business and consumer confidence
- supporting the recovery of the NSW economy once restrictions eased.
