ifo Institute: Bavaria Continues to Have the Most Short-Time Workers in Germany
Bavaria remains the German state with the most short-time workers, according to exclusive figures from the ifo Institute. The ifo survey reveals that an estimated 17 percent of employees subject to social insurance contributions were on short-time work there in August; the figure for July was 21 percent. The number of short-time workers therefore fell from 1.2 million to 990,000. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the figure dropped from 19 percent to 16 percent, or from 750,000 to 900,000 people. “Short-time work remains very prevalent in Laender with a large automotive and supplier industry and where metalworking and manufacturers of machinery and equipment are strong,” says ifo labor market expert Sebastian Link.
The state with the next highest share of short-time workers was Hesse, with 14 percent or 380,000 employees, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia, with 13 percent or 940,000 people. Lower Saxony and Bremen combined had 12 percent or 400,000 people; Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland also had a combined 12 percent or 220,000 people on short-time work; Saxony, too, had 12 percent, amounting to 190,000 short-time workers.
Short-time work was less prevalent in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, where the figure was 11 percent or 170,000 people. The Laender where short-time work was least common were Berlin, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which together have 10 percent or 300,000 short-time workers; Schleswig-Holstein and the city-state of Hamburg together also have 10 percent, equating to 210,000 people.
Overall, the number of short-time workers in Germany fell to 14 percent of the workforce in August, down from 17 percent in July. This equates to an estimated 4.6 million people in August, compared with 5.6 million in July.
