The increase in short-time work benefits from the fourth or seventh month of the entitlement period will also be retained.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The hospitality industry, trade and the event industry continue to suffer from the pandemic. Therefore, easier access to short-time work benefits should apply until the end of June. In view of the uncertainty about the further course of the corona pandemic, companies should have easier access to unemployment benefits until the end of June.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to extend the regulation, which is limited to the end of March. The increase in short-time work benefits from the fourth or seventh month of the entitlement period will also be retained.
Employment subject to social security contributions has already reached new highs in recent months and short-term unemployment has fallen to the pre-crisis level, according to the Ministry of Labor’s formulation aid for a corresponding draft law by the coalition factions, which is available to the Handelsblatt.
Nevertheless, individual sectors such as the event industry have been affected by restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. In view of the dynamic course of infection, an impairment of the business operations of the companies beyond March cannot be ruled out.
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According to the previously applicable regulation, the maximum period of receipt of short-time work benefits is limited to 24 months. Companies that have sent employees on short-time work since the beginning of the pandemic will reach this limit in February. For this reason, the maximum entitlement period has been extended to 28 months. Without an extension of the special regulations, “the risk of redundancies and, as a result, the danger that the labor market policy successes achieved so far with short-time work will be jeopardized” would increase, the draft goes on to say.
step not undisputed
However, the planned step is not without controversy. Many companies would need the special regulations for short-time work even longer, explained Employer President Rainer Dulger. Reimbursement of social contributions, which employers normally have to pay, also remains important for a limited period of time. “Nevertheless, short-time work benefits are not permanent aid,” emphasized Dulger. “In fact, we need an exit strategy for the special Corona regulations.”
The Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) is also concerned that the high expenses for short-time work benefits, which have long since used up the reserves of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), could force an increase in the contribution to unemployment insurance.
According to current law, the contribution is still 2.4 percent until the end of this year and then rises to 2.6 percent. The federal government must continue to support unemployment insurance with a subsidy that prevents contribution increases, demanded Dulger.
According to a survey by the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo), the number of short-time workers rose sharply again in December to 879,000 – after 712,000 in the previous month. Hospitality and retail companies in particular are increasingly using the tool again.
And this despite the fact that the labor market as a whole continues to recover from the corona shock. The number of unemployed rose by 133,000 to around 2.46 million in January compared to the previous month.
However, the plus was significantly smaller than usual seasonally, said BA board member Daniel Terzenbach on Tuesday at the presentation of the current labor market data. Seasonally adjusted, 48,000 fewer people were registered as unemployed than in December.
According to the BA, companies registered short-time work for 286,000 employees from January 1st to 26th inclusive, and the numbers have recently risen significantly again. In November, the last month for which extrapolated data from the BA are available, 574,000 employees were paid short-time work benefits.
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