n the day the ABC announced massive cuts and new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed just how massively the arts and recreation industry has been damaged, the government finally announced a rescue package for the arts sector. The package includes a $75m grant program that will provide capital to help Australian production and events businesses, with grants ranging from $75,000 to $2m. The package is worth $250m – somewhat less than the $345m the industry was hoping to receive. It comes as the latest ABS data on the business impact of Covid-19 points to the ongoing crisis in the economy and especially the arts sector. In the week of 10 to 17 June, 73% of all businesses were operating under modified arrangements due to the virus. The most greatly affected industries were in the accommodation and food services sector, with just 8% of all businesses in that industry operating as normal: These latest figures are able to give a more detailed picture than those in May, which only provided data on businesses currently trading. And while the overall “impact” for the arts and recreation industry may appear not as drastic as in other industry, it is clear the impacts have been much more harshly felt. Among the operating changes, some are rather benign (new hygiene protocols and practices or some physical distancing) but others include changes to workforce arrangements, such as fewer hours or working from home. And then there is the operating change that see the business not actually operating. Nearly one in five of all businesses in the arts and recreation industry are no longer trading. The data is released at a point when once again the government has indicated that a stimulus package for that industry is coming. This is something that has been long promised and long put off. Now the industry will likely have to wait until the budget update on 23 July. The impact of the Covid-19 restrictions is such that nearly half of all businesses in Australia have seen their revenue fall by at least 50% compared with this time last year: Rather shockingly, 10% of all businesses (excluding those that are unable to determine) have seen their revenue drop by more than 75%. And the most obvious industry to see such economic carnage is again the arts and recreation sector – a third of all businesses in that industry have seen their revenue fall by catastrophic levels: By contrast, more than a fifth of all businesses in the retail trade sector have seen their revenue increase compared with this time last year. Clearly this is due to the massive panic buying that occurred in the early months and also the strong recovery off the back of the easing of restrictions. But the retail sector is hardly representative, and is in such a state of flux that it is far too early to say what the medium-to-long-term impacts will be. Last week the ABS’s preliminary retail trade data showed there had been a 16.3% increase of trade in May coming off the back of a 17.7% fall in April and an 8.5% rise in March: What the figures will look like for this current month, let alone the rest of the year, is anyone’s guess. While people might be turning towards retail as an outlet for the recreational spending, what they will not be doing any time soon is spending it in the arts and recreation sector. Productions remain suspended or cancelled, and while there are some cinemas open around the country, there is very little to show. All the latest major Hollywood releases remain on hold, and last weekend the biggest film in the Australian box office was The Invisible Man, which took in just $49,569 – some $5m less than when it was the number one film back in February. And the arts and recreation sector will continue to be the industry to suffer the most in the coming months. Even once trading and travel restrictions lessen, social-distancing measures will likely be in place indefinitely (or perhaps until a vaccine is found). The arts and recreation industry is the one set to be the most affected by these ongoing restrictions. Some 68% of businesses in that sector say they will be impacted to “a great extent” by social distancing – well beyond even the 50% of businesses in the accommodation and food services industry that say they will be affected: It goes with the latest jobs data that shows while the accommodation and food services industry looks to have bottomed out, the arts and recreation sector remains as barren for work as it has been throughout the entire crisis. The treasurer on Wednesday suggested the government had “been working on a set of measures and supports for that sector, recognising that the social-distancing requirements that are in place have made it very hard for those events in that sector to continue as they did pre-Covid”. Given it is now more than three months since the virus began to slaughter the economy and destroy the arts industry, one wonders why it took them so long. This package will be very welcome, but while it is probably somewhat too little, it is clear for all to see that for most businesses and arts workers it is far, far too late. • Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia