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The Illawarra Business Chamber has released estimates that predict that the shutdowns caused by COVID-19 may have caused as many as 12,500 job losses across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands since February, 2020.

“Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released estimates that 240,000 jobs may have been lost across the state since February, with the NSW unemployment rate more than doubling to reach 10.2 percent,” said Adam Zarth, Executive Director of the Illawarra Business Chamber.

“Business NSW, our state-wide parent organisation, has undertaken further analysis of this data to determine how these estimates would play out at a regional level, including potential impacts on the unemployment rate.”

“Our estimate is that potentially 8,600 jobs have been lost in the Illawarra, which nearly doubles its unemployment rate to 11.4 percent.  In the Southern Highlands and, 3,900 jobs have potentially been lost, lifting the unemployment rate of these two regions combined to 14.1 percent – the highest in the state by some margin.”