occupation
Ifo: Companies are planning more short-time work and job cuts
The crisis is increasingly affecting the labor market. According to an Ifo survey, an important part of the German economy in particular is planning to cut jobs more, while short-time work is increasing.
The prospects for the German labor market are getting worse and worse. The employment barometer collected by the Munich Ifo Institute fell in November to its lowest level since the summer of 2020, as the economic researchers announced. The monthly decline was rather small at 0.2 points to 93.4, but it was the sixth decline in a row. “More and more companies are stopping new hires,” says the head of the Ifo surveys, Klaus Wohlrabe. “In addition, they are increasingly discussing job cuts.”
According to the survey, the situation is particularly bad in the manufacturing sector. “The industry is trying to counter the crisis with a mixture of short-time work and job cuts,” says Wohlrabe. According to the Ifo, it is particularly industrial companies that are increasingly planning to reduce their workforce, but the same applies to retail. After a long period of job creation, constant development is now expected in the service sector. There is little movement on the construction site.
The Ifo also sees signs of a further expansion of short-time work in industry. In November, 17.8 percent of the companies surveyed there used short-time work, after 14.3 percent in August. 28 percent expect this for the next three months – after 23 percent in August. Although the values for this expectation are generally higher than the short-time work realized later, the significant increase in expectations is a clearly negative signal for the labor market.
Compared to Corona, short-time work is still low
Compared to past crises, short-time work is still low, as the Ifo emphasizes. In spring 2020, at the height of the corona pandemic, 59 percent of industrial companies used the instrument, according to Ifo surveys.
There are currently particularly high values for metal production companies at 41.7 percent, followed by furniture manufacturers at 33.7 percent and the automotive industry at 27.2 percent. Chemistry is still hardly affected.
The percentage values refer to the proportion of companies that have short-time work. This often only affects part of the workforce. The proportion of employees on short-time work is therefore generally much lower.
dpa
Source: Stern
