03 June 2021
Go to release: Business Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs 2020
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (03 June 2021) published the results of the Business Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs Survey.
The online survey was sent to a sample of 8,000 businesses and the information was collected in the first quarter of 2021. The response rate to the survey was 24%. Commenting on the results, Statistician, Sorcha O’Callaghan, said:
"The results show that more than 70% of responding SMEs reported a decrease in turnover in 2020 compared to 2019. Almost a quarter of respondents saw turnover fall by more than half in the year and about 40% saw their turnover decrease by between 10% and 50%.
More than half of responding enterprises took steps to change their mode of operation due to the pandemic. Of these, 14% developed an online presence. The most common changes reported were developing an online presence, increasing operating hours and developing new products.
Among responding enterprises, 56% reported closing at some point during the pandemic in 2020. More than four in ten responding enterprises (43%) reported closing multiple times during the pandemic in 2020. Multiple closures were most prevalent in the Services sector.
Respondents in the Professional & IT sectors reported 79% of staff working either fully or partially remotely, compared to a figure of 46% reported by respondents across all sectors.
The Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector reported that 92% of staff were still working on-site, with just 8% fully or partially remote working.
The Wholesale & Retail Trade sector had 27% of staff working either fully or partially remotely and 74% not working remotely.
Respondents spent almost 70% of their 2020 COVID-19 spend on measures to comply with requirements for trading.
It is important to note that the results presented in the survey represent responding enterprises only and are unweighted."
The CSO wishes to thank respondents to date for their ongoing participation in the survey.
Sorcha O'Callaghan (+353) 21 453 5523
or email Business_Stats@cso.ie
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