Germany’s labour minister is looking to extend a regulation that made it easier for companies to apply for the short-time working (Kurzarbeit) scheme. 

German Labour Minister seeks Kurzarbeit extension

Labour Minister Hubertus Heil will reportedly seek to extend the scheme, under which the government covers a proportion of the salaries of employees whose working hours are cut, until the end of 2021. 

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the German government made changes to Kurzarbeit so that more companies could benefit. Previously, 30 percent of a company’s workforce had to be affected before the government would step in; since March 2020 that figure has been reduced to 10 percent.

That regulation was due to expire on September 30, but Heil has announced that he wants to push for the scheme’s extension. “Kurzarbeit was and is our stable bridge over a deep economic valley,” he told the Rheinische Post. 

7,3 million people benefited from short-time working

The scheme is credited with preventing thousands of job losses during the crisis - as it did during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. In total during 2020, around 7,3 million people in Germany benefited from Kurzarbeit at one time or another. 

Heil said that, while unemployment in Germany is going down, “there are still economic disruptions in a number of industries [and so] I think it makes sense to extend the existing regulations for Kurzarbeit until the end of the year as a precaution.” 

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has also indicated that he is in favour of extending the scheme, telling the Funke media group that both Kurzarbeit and governmental support for struggling businesses would be extended.