Due to the energy crisis, access to short-time work benefits should remain possible until the end of June under simplified conditions. Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) told the editorial network Germany (RND/Sonntag) that the situation on the labor market remained stable despite the high burdens that the economy had to shoulder at the same time. “In these difficult times, we continue to stand by the side of companies and employees. (…) That’s why we are now extending easier access to short-time work benefits until June 30, 2023.”
According to the RND, the regulation has already passed the departmental vote and is to be decided in the cabinet on Wednesday. Heil said: “In the past few months, short-time work has been a stable bridge over a deep economic valley. This bridge continues to hold up.”
The simplified access was decided during the corona pandemic and extended several times – most recently until the end of 2022. The simplification means that short-time work benefits can already be paid if at least ten percent instead of the normal one third of the employees in a company are affected by a loss of pay. In addition, employees do not have to build up any minus hours in order to be entitled to receive short-time work benefits.
After the number of short-time workers had almost returned to normal from almost six million during the Corona lockdown in April 2020, the Federal Employment Agency recently reported slightly increasing numbers. From November 1st up to and including 24th, companies announced short-time work for 82,000 people – that does not mean that they will actually take advantage of it. The current data for short-time work taken is from September. At that time, 157,000 short-time workers were registered, twice as many as in August.
