Short-time work: The German answer to the Great Recession

. At the height of the economic crisis in mid‐2009, the number of Germany's short‐time workers peaked at 1.5 million. Unemployment would otherwise have increased by approximately twice as much as it did. But while short‐time work certainly helped to cushion the labour market impact of the crisi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International labour review 2013-06, Vol.152 (2), p.287-305
Main Authors: BRENKE, Karl, RINNE, Ulf, ZIMMERMANN, Klaus F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Amendments
Economic conditions
Economic crisis
Economic recession
economic recovery
Employees
Employment
employment policy
Feedback (Response)
GDP
Generalizations
Germans
Germany
Great Recession
Gross Domestic Product
Industry
Labor Force
Labor market
Labour market
Low income groups
Management of crises
Markets
Regulation
Short term
short time working
Studies
Temporary employment
trend
Underemployment
Unemployment
War
Weimar Republic
Working hours
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Summary:. At the height of the economic crisis in mid‐2009, the number of Germany's short‐time workers peaked at 1.5 million. Unemployment would otherwise have increased by approximately twice as much as it did. But while short‐time work certainly helped to cushion the labour market impact of the crisis, the authors caution that the country's specific circumstances preclude simple generalizations regarding its global effectiveness. Moreover, they argue, subsequent amendments to the regulatory framework made the scheme vulnerable to abuse, as reflected in the significant numbers of short‐term workers in industries unaffected by the crisis and the emergence of a pattern of “long‐term” short‐time work.
ISSN:0020-7780
1564-913X
DOI:10.1111/j.1564-913X.2013.00181.x