Simon Crawford of Bella Homes in Whangārei thinks Covid wage subsidies helped some small firms to stay afloat in Northland.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Simon Crawford of Bella Homes in Whangārei thinks Covid wage subsidies helped some small firms to stay afloat in Northland.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland's construction sector topped the list of more than 35,000 jobs that attracted Covid wage subsidies that helped small businesses stay afloat.
Figures released by the Ministry of Social Development show 37,242 jobs in Northland were paid Covid-19 wage subsidies last year and nearly 35 per cent or 12,927 receivedone of nine such payments.
In comparison, 44,892 jobs in Northland were paid wage subsidies worth $281 million in 2020.
The Advocate has applied under the Official Information Act for the total Covid wage subsidy in Northland last year.
The ministry said 7536 jobs in the construction sector in Northland last year received at least one Covid wage subsidy, followed by 5556 in accommodation and food, 4224 in manufacturing and 4065 in retail.
The Covid-19 wage subsidy first opened in March 2020 for applications from employers, including self-employed people, across New Zealand who experienced at least a 30 per cent decline in revenue over a month related to the pandemic.
It provided eligible employers with a lump sum payment for each employee included in the application, to help pay and retain employees for a 12-week period.
Whangārei-based Bella Homes director Simon Crawford said in some instances the Covid wage subsidy helped small firms stay afloat.
He said a lack of cash flow was generally the hardest thing to deal with as a business, especially during tough times such as a pandemic.
Bella Homes received $35,148 in Covid wage subsidy for five staff in 2020 and $22,800 for seven employees last year.
The business currently employs five people.
The number of construction jobs that attracted a wage subsidy in Northland did not come as a surprise, Crawford said, given the fact that job sites could not be accessed during lockdowns.
However, he said demand for construction work and the backlog of building consents have been overwhelming since Covid restrictions were lifted.
A shortage of structural engineers and the intermittent unavailability of building products have exacerbated the situation, he said.
Stats show more males (21,846) than females (15,363) were supported by the payment in Northland and 60 per cent (22,359) of employees that received the wage subsidy last year worked in businesses that employed a maximum of 19 staff.
John Maurice from Northland's hospitality sector says some small businesses will find it tough despite the Covid wage subsidies.
Photo / Peter de Graaf
New Zealand Europeans constituted the highest number of payment recipients in Northland (21,192), followed by Māori (11,838) and Asian (2646).
Darrell Trigg, of Trigg Construction at One Tree Point, said 85 per cent of businesses in the construction sector were small to medium enterprises and 50 per cent have just one employee.
MSD paid out $42,177.60 for six Trigg Construction employees in 2020 and a further $8400 for seven staff last year.
"Like any business, it's about cash flow. Nationally, the industry banded together, got the tools and got back to work. A big chunk of the industry is made up of a one-man business and that's why they applied for the Covid wage subsidy as soon as jobs stopped," he said.
Trigg is a director of the Registered Master Builders Association and served as its president between 2018 and 2020.
Northland branch of Hospitality NZ chairman and Kaikohe's Bank Bar owner John Maurice said although the Covid wage subsidies have helped a number of small to medium businesses, there would still be some that would fall over, given that international borders were not fully re-opened.
