Market Reports, News

PUBLIC documents released this month show key listed public companies in the automotive sector retained thousands of jobs thanks to the federal government’s JobKeeper program.

Six listed companies that submitted JobKeeper information to the government and then announced the notices through the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) showed that the program maintained the employment of 12,323 staff in the 2019-20 financial year and 4860 staff in 2020-21.

The six companies claimed a total of $175.97 million in 2019-20 with the main claimant being Australia’s biggest car retail group, Eagers Automotive Ltd with a $131 million claim in that first year.

The rebound in the industry shows clearly in the claims made in the second year (2020-21) where total claims for the latest 12 months slumped to a relatively low $49.66 million.

This was cut primarily as Eagers made no JobKeeper claims in the year. It reported a claim in 2019-20 of $131,072,700 but no claim in the following year.

Two companies – Carsales and Motorcycle Holdings – increased their claim in the second financial year as both increased their staff numbers.

Only one of the six repaid most of its payment, with the newly listed Peter Warren Automotive Holdings Ltd refunding $13.32 million of its 2020-21 payment. It is not a requirement that recipients of the program repay any of the money.

A Reserve Bank research report of November 2020 said that JobKeeper saved one in five eligible individuals – estimated at more than 700,000 people – from losing their job.

It calculated that of the 10.26 million eligible recipients, 3.5 million were covered by JobKeeper in the period of April-May 2020, equivalent to about one-third of the working population.

By Neil Dowling

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