About 19,000 Tasmanian jobs go as coronavirus crisis takes hold

The state is estimated to have shed roughly 18,800 jobs between March 14 and April 4, based on combining new measurements of payroll data from the tax office with the Australian Bureau of Statistics' most recent seasonally adjusted labour force figures, which were based on data from mid-March.

The estimated number of job losses in the three-week period was almost equivalent to the entire population of Burnie.

Young workers and accommodation and food services workers were hit especially hard.

The ABS figures suggested Tasmania had been hit harder than any other state as the economic crash took hold, with 7.3 per cent of Tasmanian jobs going during the three weeks.

Sectors especially hard hit included accommodation and food services (an estimated 21.8 per cent of jobs gone), arts and recreation services (15.3 per cent) and the other services category (9 per cent).

The job loss estimate was similar to a recent estimate from Tasmanian economist Saul Eslake.

He estimated in mid-April about 20,000 Tasmanians had lost their jobs.

On Tuesday, he said the ABS figures indicated the state had lost about 18,000 jobs "on the face of it".

"I think it's reasonable to say that last week (to April 4) was almost certainly the worst for the scale of job losses," he said.

"There will be more job losses, but hopefully they won't be anywhere near as big as we saw in that week.

"I don't think employment is going to go up from here until the shutdown starts to ease."

Mr Eslake saw the federal government's JobKeeper wage subsidy - announced in late March - as a positive for helping keep people employed.

Premier Peter Gutwein said: "We know the restrictions necessary to protect Tasmanians from coronavirus are having a significant impact on jobs in Tasmania, and across Australia."

"Given our tight border restrictions and social distancing protocols, it is not surprising that sadly it is the accommodation and food services industry most impacted.

"However, it is equally important to note that this data released today may not accurately represent the current situation in our state, as Tasmanian businesses are predominantly smaller, and many smaller employers (approximately 30 per cent) are not included in the data ...

"Our government's number one focus is the health and safety of Tasmanians, and we will continue to monitor the impacts on our state.

"It does provide some comfort to Tasmanians that we entered the pandemic from a position of record strength, and we will continue to do all we can to protect Tasmanians and our workforce."

Labor Leader Rebecca White said there had been a marked increase in unemployment for people aged less than 20 and called for increased federal government support for them.

"These are the same people who unfortunately in many cases are casual workers or students and don't qualify for the JobSeeker or the JobKeeper payment," Ms White said.

"They need to access the same financial support as any other worker during this time; they've got the same bills to pay.

"We shouldn't be forcing them into poverty if we can avoid it."