Thursday, March 26, 2020

Flight Centre, Premier Investments latest in coronavirus stand-downs; Virgin boss flags 1000 redundancies


Flight Centre will stand-down 3,800 Australian staff as the coronavirus fallout bites in the economy. 

The retailer Premier Investments is standing down 9,000 staff globally and will closes all its Australian stores after close of business today. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says about half of businesses surveyed say they are experiencing an "adverse impact" from the coronavirus. 

ABC's Peter Ryan with this analysis.


US jobless rate set for coronavirus spike as companies lay off workers

Economists predict US weekly jobless claims out this evening could surge by between a million and four million as companies lay off workers. 

Westpac predicts Australia's jobless rate will spike to 11 percent by mid-2020 and that a likely deep recession that will be worse than the global financial crisis a decade ago. 

As government debt spirals, market analyst Russ Mould says future generations will be left with a mind-boggling bill.





Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Jobless rate to spike to 11pc; Virgin stands down 8,000 staff

Westpac predicts the unemployment rate will spike to 11 percent by mid-2020 and that Australia will fall into a deep recession that will be worse than the global financial crisis a decade ago. 

At the same time, Virgin Australia to stand down 80 percent of its 10,000 staff as the coronavirus freezes global aviation. 

The airline will cut its flight capacity by 90 percent and ground 125 aircraft. 

Here's my report from The World Today