It has been about five months since the economy came to a screeching halt due to the pandemic. Some businesses have shifted services to stay afloat, while many have closed for good.
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“We’re getting hit pretty hard in New Hampshire on the economic side of this virus. Ironically, the virus is under control, but our economy is still suffering,” said economist Russ Thibeault, president of Applied Economic Research.
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From March until mid-July, at least 280 businesses in New Hampshire were marked as permanently closed, according to business review website Yelp.
Thibeault believes that number is much higher.
“A lot of the restaurants closed thinking they would reopen haven’t been able to reopen and don’t plan to reopen, so that suggests we’re going to have a permanent disruption and a longer lasting disruption than we’d like,” he said.
Thibault said going forward, the loss of business support through the Paycheck Protection Program and the loss of the supplemental unemployment benefits is going to have a negative effect.
According to the state division of economic development, the state’s tourism industry took a big hit.
“We’re just finishing our prime tourist season, so businesses that may have hung on may have a hard time continuing to hang on in the absence of that kind of support,” Thibeault said.
Thibeault said until more people are back to work and feel safe going out the way they used to, the economy isn’t going to get back to where many want it to be.
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