Some 300 companies that received pandemic-related government loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) have filed for bankruptcy, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis published on Tuesday.

Many of the businesses, which employ a total of some 23,400 workers, said the loans weren’t enough to keep them afloat, especially since there were no additional stimulus payments even as the pandemic worsened.

The Journal said its estimate of failed companies was very conservative, as it only analyzed the big borrowers from the program, which made up approximately half of the total loans, though only about 13.5% of the overall participants.

In addition, many smaller companies simply liquidate when they run out of cash and don’t file for bankruptcy.

The total amount lent to businesses that ended up going bankrupt is between $228 million and $509 million, with half of the 285 companies identified by the Journal having filed for bankruptcy since August.

The hospitality industry was the most severely hit among businesses receiving PPP loans, with restaurants and hotels that filed for bankruptcy employing almost 6,600 workers, the most of any industry.

The government did not concentrate on the risk of bankruptcy for the companies receiving loans, since the purpose was to rapidly get cash to workers affected by coronavirus shutdowns.

The loans were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration as long as the funds were spent on qualifying expenses such as payroll, the Journal reported, so the government will likely suffer significant losses.

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