Despite a weakening economy, the number of people on short-time work in Germany is declining. The Munich-based ifo Institute announced that around 110,000 people in Germany received short-time work benefits in August. In contrast, it was about 150,000 in May. „One factor that may play a role is that the eased conditions for receiving short-time work benefits expired at the end of June,“ said ifo labor market researcher Sebastian Link.
The majority of workers on short-time work are employed in the industry. The numbers decreased from 118,000 in May to 89,000 in August. However, there were also increases in short-time work in certain sectors, such as metal production and mechanical engineering. „Interestingly, despite the extremely poor sentiment, short-time work does not play a role in the construction industry,“ Link added. The estimated number of workers on short-time work in the construction sector decreased from 8,000 to 7,000.
KurzarbeitIn general, there is temporary job shortage. In such cases, employees receive government-funded short-time work allowance equivalent to the unemployment benefits for the hours not worked. Initially, the German government relaxed the access to this benefit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, short-time work reached its peak with six million employees, while in August 2022, there were still 76,000 individuals on short-time work.
The ifo Institute estimates the number of employees on short-time work based on its economic surveys and the data from the Federal Employment Agency.