The Federal Employment Agency (BA) has estimated its previous expenses for the corona crisis at the immense sum of around 52 billion euros. In the years 2020 and 2021, 24 billion euros in short-time work allowance, 18 billion euros for social benefits from short-time work and ten billion for pandemic-related unemployment benefits were spent, said BA Board Member Christiane Schönefeld in Berlin.
To finance the additional expenses, the Federal Agency’s reserve of almost 26 billion euros has been almost completely used up, said Schönefeld. The federal government has allocated around 24 billion euros, the rest has been covered from the budget. There is also a gap in the next budget for 2022. The federal agency estimates that it will need around one billion federal grants. The budget of the authority is usually fed almost exclusively from contribution income.
Schönefeld admitted that another pandemic-related lockdown with then possibly a new boost in short-time work would increase the deficit. If it remains the case that the pandemic should be largely combated with the means of access restrictions for the unvaccinated, the approach may be sufficient.
