Coronavirus: What jobs are still available nationwide?

As the coronavirus pandemic leaves hundreds of thousands of Australians without work, there are still places hiring.

As the disease completely obliterates some sectors of the economy, others are struggling to cope with increased demand.

And there are plenty of places advertising for more staff during this crisis.

Supermarkets

Everybody has seen how panic-buying has put an incredible strain on supermarkets.

And as one of the few places still open during this pandemic, they are looking for more staff.

Coles announced yesterday that they were looking for 5000 casual employees to cope with a surge in customers.

It's more than just shelf-stackers and checkout operators too. Coles also needs more drivers for its delivery vans.

Woolworths is currently advertising hundreds of jobs across the country, including managers, bakers, butchers and online personal shoppers.

Aldi is advertising for store assistants and warehouse operators, and Harris Farm is looking for pick packers and casual retail workers.

Delivery drivers

With restaurants, cafes and pubs all forced to be closed by the new restrictions announced yesterday, there is more demand for takeaway.

If you've got a car, motorbike, scooter or bicycle, working for a company like UberEats or Deliveroo is an option.

Supermarkets are scaling up their capacity to deliver groceries, and they'll need drivers to do it.

And while so many people are housebound, their demand for online shopping is set to increase. Couriers and delivery drivers are going to be needed to get packages to their customers.

Amazon announced this week they would be hiring another 100,000 people worldwide.

Health

There's no surprise that almost every hospital in the country is looking for more nurses and doctors.

But there are hospital jobs being advertised for cleaners, wardspersons, clerks, telephonists and administration assistants.

Medical practices across the country are looking for receptionists, and pharmacies are hiring assistants.

Outdoor jobs

There's still demand for workers in fields like agriculture and gardening.

In spite of the lockdown, fruit still needs to be picked, trees still need to be pruned and crops still need to be harvested.

Elsewhere

With their call centre in the Philippines shut down and complaints surging, Telstra is looking to hire a thousand more workers.

The telco specifically invited Qantas staffers for the roles, which are largely in their Australia-based call centres.

The jobs are only temporary.

Meanwhile, mining giant BHP is looking to recruit 1500 people in six-month contracts, working in roles like truck drivers, excavation operators, mechanics, boilermakers and trade assistants.

Mining is considered by the federal government to be an essential business.

Thousands of public sector jobs are still available across the country as well, though most are particularly specialised.

Most won't find work quickly

But the bitter reality is that these vacancies will barely make a dent in the unemployment rate.

The coronavirus pandemic is set to cost Australia one million jobs or more, as the economy goes into a deep freeze.

The shutdown is affecting every sector, but hospitality is the hardest hit.

As much of the hospitality industry consists of casual employees, most of them people losing their jobs have no redundancy payouts.

Until the pandemic is brought under control, there is little hope those jobs will be returning soon.

More likely it will be six months to a year before things return back to normal.