ifo Institute: 7.3 Million Employees on Short-Time Work in May
In May, 7.3 million employees in Germany were on short-time work, according to exclusive ifo Institute calculations. “This number has never been so high,” says ifo labor market expert Sebastian Link. “During the financial crisis, short-time work peaked in May 2009 with just under 1.5 million people affected.” During the coronavirus crisis, companies originally reported they would introduce short-time work for 10.1 million employees. According to ifo Institute data, they then actually did so for 71.6 percent of that figure.
In business-related services, 2.4 million people were on short-time work, representing 24.5 percent of the workforce. In manufacturing, that number was 2.2 million people, or 31 percent of the total workforce, and in trade it was 1.3 million or 29.7 percent. The figures were particularly low in buildings and underground construction, with 22,000 people or 4.1 percent affected.
For the remaining sectors of the economy not covered by the survey, ifo estimates the figures for short-time work to be 1.3 million people, or 11.3 percent of the workforce.
In contrast to the financial crisis, when over 80 percent of employees on short-time work were in manufacturing, during the coronavirus crisis short-time work is being applied in almost all economic sectors.
These figures are based on ifo Business Survey, which asked about the proportion of employees on short-time work for the first time in May.
