Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Labor Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) is not enough to extend easier access to short-time work benefits. The CDU politician said on Wednesday in Stuttgart: “But that’s not all.” You also need a second, more in-depth step.
The previous short-time allowance was basically designed for individual companies in difficulty, said Hoffmeister-Kraut. “But we are currently experiencing crises that affect a large number of sectors and companies and the duration of which cannot be influenced by the companies.” That’s why she spoke out in favor of her own “crisis short-time allowance” with greatly simplified procedures.
The easier access conditions for short-time work were recently extended until the end of the year. Until then, it is still sufficient for companies if at least 10 percent of their employees are affected by the loss of work. Before Corona it was usually at least a third. To avoid short-time work, employees should still not have to build up any negative hours before receiving short-time work benefits.
At the moment the energy crisis has hardly any impact on the labor market. The number of notifications of short-time work is one of the first indicators of problems in companies. In Baden-Württemberg, 252 companies reported short-time work for 3,652 employees in August, according to the regional directorate of the Federal Employment Agency. Its boss Christian Rauch said: “For crises such as pandemics or the current energy shortage, however, the instrument should be further developed by the legislature in the short term so that the bureaucracy and effort for both companies and employment agencies is reduced.”
Hoffmeister-Kraut went on to say that the job market in Baden-Württemberg is still robust. “It remains to be seen how the first economic downturn will affect the labor market.”
