Short-time work due to the Corona crisis has particularly affected regions with a high proportion of companies from the metal and electrical industry as well as vacation areas. This was the result of an analysis for the union-related Hans Böckler Foundation.
German cities and districts with a strong car industry in particular had high rates of short-time work, according to the study by the Economic and Social Sciences Institute (WSI) of the Böckler Foundation. In March and April, short-time working was reported at the VW locations in Emden (56.0 percent) and Wolfsburg (52.2 percent) for more than half of all employees subject to social security contributions. The nationwide average in April was a good 31 percent.
Above-average short-time work has also been registered in tourist regions. The districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (41.4 percent), Oberallgäu (40.4 percent) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (35.1 percent) had high rates. On the North and Baltic coasts, this applies to Wittmund (35.6 percent), Ostholstein (34.7 percent) and Western Pomerania-Rügen (35.5 percent), among others.
Comparatively little short-time work has been registered in cities with strong chemical and pharmaceutical companies. The scientists determined a short-time working rate of 11.6 percent for BASF’s Ludwigshafen site and 16.2 percent for Bayer’s Leverkusen site. These are the lowest rates of indicated short-time work in Germany. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries are far less affected by declines in orders and production than mechanical and automotive engineering.
Short-time work was reported particularly in regions with below-average employment shares of large companies. The crisis had “hit many smaller companies hard and they responded quickly with short-time work,” emphasized WSI researcher Helge Emmler. The results of the investigation thus indicated that short-time work was being used as needed.
The researchers had evaluated regional data from the Federal Employment Agency (BA) on registered short-time work. These numbers are likely to be significantly higher than those of actually short-time employees. The companies have often registered short-time work as a precaution for larger groups. Regional data on the short-time working actually implemented would only be available in a few months.
Despite the massive use of short-time work, unemployment has also increased – also with considerable regional differences. According to WSI calculations, particularly strong corona-related increases in unemployment rates had to cope with the tourist regions of Western Pomerania-Rügen (3.2 percentage points) and Wittmund in East Frisia (2.6 percentage points). But the unemployment rate also rose significantly in Berlin (2.5 percentage points), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (2.4 percentage points), Berchtesgadener Land and Wilhelmshaven (both 2.3 percentage points). The federal average increased the rate from March to May due to Corona by 1.3 percentage points.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200629-99-599057 / 2
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