Number of Short-Time Workers in Germany Fell Notably in August
The number of short-time workers in Germany fell notably to 688,000 in August, down from 1.06 million in July. 2.0 percent of dependent employees were still on short-time work, compared with 3.2* percent in July. This is an ifo Institute estimate based on its Business Survey and on data from the German Federal Employment Agency. “Only the hospitality industry still had 10.1 percent on short-time work in August, equivalent to 107,000 people. However, the figure here fell considerably as well, as the previous month’s figure was 17.1* percent,” says ifo survey expert Stefan Sauer.
The decline occurred across nearly all sectors of the economy in August. This is the first time since the start of the coronavirus crisis that the number of people on short-time work has been below one million,” Sauer adds.
In manufacturing, supply bottlenecks for intermediate products had no noticeable impact on short-time work: the share here dropped from 4.2 percent to 2.7 percent. However, the proportion of short-time workers in the printing industry is still 9.7 percent of the workforce. Meanwhile, the share in the automotive industry fell from 3.7* percent to 2.2 percent.
In retail, the share slipped from 2.5* percent to 1.5 percent, equating to 36,200 workers.
*) Revised figure.
