FRANKLIN, Ind. – Aspire Economic Development and Chamber Alliance has announced the findings from a survey of Johnson County area businesses. The survey, conducted in late April, assessed economic impacts of the first month of the COVID-19 crisis. One-hundred businesses participated, representing 6,200 full-time positions and 3,500 part-time jobs.
Survey findings showed that 82% of respondents are either open for businesses or closed to the public but still operating, and 72% say they are still running at least half of their operations on-site. Approximately 23% of respondents report layoffs, but the number of impacted full-time workers was only 2%, and just 9% of part-time employees.
About 75% of businesses report a decrease in revenue since mid-March. Just over one-half of the respondents have lost between 50-100% of their weekly revenue since the shelter-in-place began. Some even say they expect a decline in revenue of 25% or more over the coming year.
Christian Maslowski, CEO of Aspire Economic Development + Chamber Alliance said, “The initial waves of the pandemic, social distancing, and shelter in place crushed many small businesses into permanent closure. But the diversity of industries operating in the Johnson County area has tempered the long-term damage to our economy, just as it helped temper the economic storm of 2008-09.”
