In the first 8 months of Covid, Australian workers lost $47 billion in wages. A study showed that there was a decrease in the hours workers performed from 760 (before Covid) to 692 hours (March to October).

According to a longitudinal survey, hours worked by females fell by 2.7 hours per week from February to April. However, it recovered again by 2.1 hours in October. As for males, there was a decline of 3.5 hours from February to April. But it only recovered by 1.2 hours in October. An analysis of this data showed that men lost more hours both in absolute terms but also as a portion of labor; sitting at 10.8% while women were at 6.1%.

The study found that the individuals who were most impacted by Covid sit in the middle of the education distribution. They have completed year 12 but they do not have a university degree.

The total loss of this production due to Covid equates to $5,885 per employed Australian between February and October, totalling $47 billion or 1.3b hours. Although this loss was significant, it was found that the jobjeeper subsidies, which paid $69 billion as of October and an additional $35 billion of early superannuation withdrawals, have more than offset them.