IW Labour Market Monitoring April 2020

Therefore, people outside the labour market have a difficult time finding new jobs. In addition, short time work is used widespread as an instrument of internal numerical flexibility. The number of short time workers will be much higher than in the 2009 crisis. While the number of layoffs increases, it remains on a low level compared to short time work or layoffs in other countries. As a result, unemployment is rising somewhat moderately.

To alleviate the labour market effects of the current crisis, the legislator has introduced various de-regulations in the working time law. This could be a social experiment that encompasses the opportunity to gain more insights into the controversial working time debate by means of thorough evaluation.