In comparison, jobs decreased by just 6 per cent across all sectors in the period between 14 March and 4 April.

Week-to-week, the decrease in jobs in the week ending 4 April 2020 was 5.5 per cent, and significantly larger than the 0.5 per cent decrease in the week prior, ending 28 March 2020.

According to ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis, young people are disproportionately bearing the brunt of lost employment.

“The largest impact of net job losses, in percentage terms, was for people aged under 20, for whom jobs decreased by 9.9 per cent,” he said.

“The accommodation and food services industry saw the largest reduction in jobs (decreasing by 25.6 per cent), followed by the arts and recreation services industry (decreasing by 18.7 per cent).”

Over the same period, total wages paid by businesses to their staff decreased by 6.7 per cent.

Total wages paid by businesses decreased by 6.7 per cent over the period.