Nearly half of all businesses and enterprises on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES) accessed a financial contribution towards their wage costs and/or fixed overheads for 2020 through the pandemic emergency measures package put in place by the Dutch government.
According to figures released by Statistics Netherlands, the share of companies claiming government support for their wage and/or fixed overhead costs ranged from 45 percent on Bonaire to 47 percent on St. Eustatius and 55 percent on Saba.
Wage cost assistance covered 4,020 jobs for both employees of businesses and self-employed persons.
The vast majority of claims were made in the (tourism) accommodation and food services sector. In this sector, 200 companies received financial support for 1,290 jobs. Almost all of those jobs were on Bonaire (1,190).
In the trade sector, 200 companies applied for contributions from the emergency package. Those companies received a contribution to wage costs for a total of 500 jobs.
