ifo Institute: Short-Time Work Reaches Almost All Sectors in Germany
Employees are on short-time work in almost all industries in Germany. The highest numbers are in restaurants and catering, with 99 percent of businesses making use of short-time work, as well as in hotels, with 97 percent. This is the result of surveys the ifo Institute conducted in April. The key sector of automotive engineering also reports particularly high figures, with 94 percent of companies implementing short-time work. Across industries, the average is 50 percent. “This tops all figures from the 2009 financial crisis,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo.
“For companies, short-time work is a way to bridge a period of low sales. However, if this period goes on long enough, we’ll also see jobs being cut completely,” Wohlrabe continues.
In aviation, 91 percent of companies have introduced short-time work, and that figure is 90 percent among travel agencies and tour operators. A full 98 percent of leather goods manufacturers have instituted short-time work, along with 96 percent of clothing manufacturers. Creative, artistic, and entertainment enterprises report that 82 percent of companies have short-time work, followed by sports facilities (pools, golf clubs, fitness studios, amusement and recreation parks) with 81 percent.
At the same time, a handful of sectors report comparatively low levels of short-time work. In the chemical industry, for example, just 30 percent of companies are using it, followed by 21 percent of food and animal feed manufacturers, and 3 percent of legal firms, tax consultancies, and auditors. Absolutely no (0 percent) energy suppliers, sewage disposal companies, or medicine manufacturers report short-time work.
A comparison of German Länder reveals differences in the proportion of short-time work. The Länder with the highest short-time work numbers are Bavaria (54 percent of companies) and Baden-Württemberg (53 percent). At the other end of the scale are the three central Länder of Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt with 43 percent, followed by Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland with 39 percent.
