The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Businesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has left many Belizean businesses in limbo, and a recent survey by the Statistical Institute of Belize shows just how significant the impact is across the country. A Business Establishment Survey was carried out by the S.I.B. in November of 2020; two thousand five hundred local businesses were in the sample group, which were registered either with the Social Security Board or the Belize Tax Department.  The survey reported an average thirty-five point eight percent decrease in employment between March and November 2020.  The steepest decline was seen in Orange Walk District, where business reported a sixty-six point five percent loss of staff.  This was followed by the Cayo District, where employment among these businesses fell by forty-eight point four percent. Statistician Jefte Ochaeta shares further details.

Jefte Ochaeta

Jefte Ochaeta, Economic Statistics Department, S.I.B.

“Due to the pandemic, most of the establishments needed to do restructuring of the staff and the ones that suffered mostly were part-time workers.  So that was one of the key findings. Also something significant was to compare the level of change in the employment level. When we did that analysis and compared what was the employment count reported to us by the establishments between November and March, there was a significant drop about thirty-five percent throughout the country.”

Most businesses surveyed reported that they had to implement one or more cost-saving measures to stay afloat.  These varied from reducing staff hours all the way to layoffs.  Others resorted to cutting salaries and other compensation. Interestingly, twenty-eight percent of the businesses surveyed reported not having to implement any cost-saving measures at all.