Millions of employees in Germany were on short-time work at the height of the Corona crisis. Now the economy is doing better again – and the government is phasing out easier access to short-time work benefits.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil does not want to extend the simplified access to short-time work benefits any further. “The economic development and also the situation on the job market are currently better than we could have expected in the autumn,” said the SPD politician of the “Rheinische Post”.
Germany currently has the highest level of employment – despite the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine. “That’s why we will not extend the simplified access to short-time work benefits after the end of June,” said the Minister of Labor.
The Federal Agency should form reserves again
The issue now is securing skilled workers. “We will invest more money in the qualification and further training of employees.” At the same time, the Federal Employment Agency must be able to build up reserves for future crises, said Heil.
There are currently 162,000 employees on short-time work, at the height of the Corona crisis in spring 2020 there were six million. “In the years 2020 to 2022 we spent a total of 45.5 billion euros on short-time work benefits. That is an enormous sum,” the minister summed up. But that paid off.
“1.3 million people before unemployment preserved”
In a study, the International Monetary Fund found that without the special regulations, unemployment would have risen by three percentage points at the peak of the crisis in the second quarter of 2020. “That corresponds to around 1.3 million people who we saved from unemployment with short-time work,” said Heil.
Companies can continue to apply for short-time work benefits for their employees in the future. But you will now return to the pre-crisis rules. According to this, at least 30 percent of the employees in a company must be affected by short-time work in the future, currently it is ten percent with easier access.