Almost half of Australian businesses surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) say they have experienced an adverse impact as a result of COVID-19.

The ABS is releasing extra data to show how the coronavirus pandemic is hitting businesses and the economy.

It said almost 90 per cent of businesses across the country were expected to be impacted in future months.

But the data was collected in mid-March, just before the Federal Government introduced social distancing rules to control the spread of the disease.

The ABS said the adverse impacts were most prevalent in accommodation and food services, with over three-quarters of businesses (78 per cent) already reporting impacts and 96 per cent reporting that they expected impacts in coming months.

The loss of hospitality jobs is a major reason why there have been long queues of people outside Centrelink offices.

Many are seeking to access to expanded welfare payments, including a $550 fortnightly coronavirus supplement payment.

The data shows businesses were already feeling the impact of coronavirus before the introduction of physical distancing rules. ( ABC News )

Those least likely to have been adversely impacted by COVID-19 in the collection period were professional, scientific and technical services (21 per cent); electricity, gas and water supply (34 per cent); and mining (37 per cent).

A reduction in local demand was the most common impact experienced (82 per cent) and was also the most common impact expected in the coming months (81 per cent).

Of impacted businesses, more than one-third had experienced staff shortages (36 per cent) and 59 per cent expected to experience staff shortages in coming months.

A sample of 3,000 businesses was selected for the latest survey, and 41 per cent responded.

The ABS said this lower-than-usual response rate may be related to whether businesses are adversely impacted by COVID-19, including businesses that have shut down and therefore may not have responded to the survey.

Businesses of all sizes impacted

There are expectations more than 1 million Australians could lose their jobs if the unemployment rate hits more than 10 per cent, as some economists are predicting.

Tens of thousands of staff working for listed companies across Australia have already faced significant disruption to their usual employment, including loss of income — at least temporarily.

This includes staff being temporarily stood down at major airlines including Qantas and Virgin, which have had to cut most of their international and domestic flights in response to coronavirus.

Woolworths has been hit by hotel closures, as well as Flight Centre which on Thursday said 3,800 workers would be temporarily stood down, and Premier Investments which shut stores worldwide in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

More small businesses like hairdressers could close, impacted by more stringent social distancing measures, while there have already been mandated closures of other businesses including beauty salons.

"The pandemic is causing havoc across all industries, with hospitality bearing the brunt, with business of all sizes affected," NAB economist Kaixin Owyong said.

"Reduced demand is the key problem, although labour shortages are an important and growing problem as staff are affected by illness, quarantine, school closures and transport disruptions."

The ABS will be doing a series of other surveys over the coming months to help measure the economic impact of coronavirus.

It said it had managed the potential risks from COVID-19 by suspending face-to-face interviews in the final week of the March survey and instead conducting telephone interviews.

How the ABS will report job losses

As the virus spreads and more job losses are reported, the ABS will have a challenge in how it presents labour force data.

The agency noted reduced hours would not necessarily mean people would be counted as "unemployed".

The ABS has long defined a person who is unemployed as "one who, during a specified reference period, is not employed for one hour or more, is actively seeking work, and is currently available for work".

Its owns guidance states that labour force data "provides a measure the number of people who are employed" and "not a measure of the number of jobs".

"During an economic downturn, reducing hours is often an early response taken by businesses, often with the view to avoiding people losing their jobs," the ABS said in a statement.

For example, if a person takes paid leave while not working, they will be classified as employed.

And if a person is away from a job, business or farm for four weeks or less without pay for any reason, and believes they still have a job to go back to, they will be considered to be employed.

The ABS said if a person believes they no longer have a job, they will be asked additional questions to determine whether they are unemployed or not in the labour force.

"That is, the person must be actively looking for work, and available to start work," it said.

"Those people that do not meet this criteria will be classified as 'not in the labour force'."