A recent survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T (AMCHAM T&T) has revealed that thousands of jobs can be at risk if the current COVID-19 lockdown regulations persist for an extended period.
The survey asked companies how many jobs were at risk over the next 6-12 months if the restrictions continued.
“The results showed that over 3,000 jobs were at risk,” a release from AMCHAM T&T yesterday revealed.
In a follow up survey, AMCHAM T&T, which is headed by Patricia Ghany, asked companies about four different scenarios.
The first scenario revolved around the economy being fully re-opened by June but with no direct Government support to business. The second scenario proposed reopening by June with direct Government support to business.
Another scenario explored if the economy was partially re-opened by June but without direct Government support to business and the final one looked at a partial re-opening with direct Government support to business.
The responses showed that approximately 28 per cent of the companies would be able to retain all their current employees if the economy fully reopens by June with no direct Government support to business. However, with direct Government support the figure almost doubled and twice as many jobs would be saved.
The survey said if the economy only partially re-opens in June, only 17 per cent of the companies would be able retain all heir employees if there is no direct government aid to business. But approximately 40 per cent would be able to retain their employees if there is direct government support.
According to the survey, the general trend shows that for smaller companies, direct government support would reduce the number of jobs at risk by approximately 50 per cent.
Of the businesses that participated in the recent survey, 53 per cent of the respondents had to resort to reducing salaries as a means of keeping their businesses afloat.
The findings revealed that 33 per cent of the companies reduced their employees’ salary by 10-25 per cent, while 24 per cent of companies had reduced salaries by 50 per cent or more.
Furthermore, the report said 22 per cent of the companies that reduced salaries did so proportionally, where higher percentage cuts were applied to persons in higher income brackets.
However, some of the companies that made conservative reductions in salaries have said the percentage reduction in salaries is likely to increase in the short term.
The survey noted that one investor manufacturing company had temporarily laid off more than 100 employees for three months.
A survey question thus asked: “If you had to reduce staff in any form with pay, how many people were affected?“
Approximately 55 per cent of the companies indicated that they have had to reduce staff.
AMCHAM T&T noted that the survey was responded to by 109 companies of varying sizes from over 14 sectors throughout Trinidad and Tobago. The responses for the survey were collected between April 22-30, 2020.
Of the companies responding to survey, 71 per cent are still operating during the partial lockdown and 51 per cent are operating essential businesses and allowed to have their offices open.
However, the survey noted that some of the companies are making an effort to operate remotely as far as possible and only have essential staff out.
According to the survey, 22 per cent of the respondents are performing limited functions and 7 per cent are not able to operate at all during this time. These respondents were from the retail and entertainment sectors.
Meanwhile, 88 per cent of the companies surveyed reported experiencing a decline in sales from January 2020, which represents a 12 per cent increase between the number of companies who reported a decline in sales at the beginning of April (in the first survey) to the end of April (follow up survey).