The corona pandemic is having an impact on the numbers in the area of the Würzburg employment agency. It doesn’t look good and there is no recovery in sight.
From small businesses to large companies: also in the area the employment agency (AA) Würzburg Short-time work exploded in March and April as a result of the coronavirus measures. A good 4,500 short-time ads were received from the agency district in the two months, almost 4,000 in April alone. A precise evaluation of the distribution across the various economic sectors should be available at the beginning of June, press spokesman Wolfgang Albert said on request.
“There is no end in sight yet.”
Stefan Beil – Würzburg Employment Agency–
In addition to the city, the district of AA Würzburg also includes the counties of Würzburg, Kitzingen and Main-Spessart. Agency manager Stefan Beil had reported in the monthly report on the labor market development at the end of April that the corona-related closings of shops, production downtimes as well as significant drops in orders and demand led to the fact that despite intensive use of short-time work, unemployment in the district “rose noticeably”. Around 8,500 people were registered as unemployed in April, around 2,000 more than in April of the previous year. The unemployment rate was 2.8 percent, higher than last April comparison four years ago.
The spread of the corona virus has left clear traces within a very short time
“The spread of the corona virus has left its mark on the job market within a very short time, and there is no end in sight,” emphasizes Beil. In March and April, almost 58,000 people registered short-time work in the agency district – that’s more than a quarter of all employees subject to social security contributions. How many of them were actually on short-time work is not yet available.
The highest increase in the unemployment rate was in the city of Würzburg.
The unemployment rate recorded the highest increase in the unemployment rate from 3.3 to four percent in April for the city of Würzburg. It looks much better in the district with a slight increase from 1.9 to 2.2 percent. The key date for the survey was already in the middle of the month, according to the AA monthly report, the trend is “steeply in a negative direction”.
The negative trend on the labor market can also be seen in the short-time work displayed in the city and district of Würzburg in the past two months: In March, 218 advertisements for a total of 4277 people were received from the urban area, in April there were 1336 advertisements for 16 767 people – in total the 1554 advertisements for around 21,000 employees and thus more than a third of the 4,530 short-time advertisements in the agency district. In the district there were a total of 1091 advertisements for short-time work (March: 148 / April 943) with 10 562 affected people (March: 3135 / April: 7427).
The Bavaria-wide data can provide a first clue.
“In contrast to the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, which mainly affected the manufacturing sector, companies and departments from almost all industries reported short-time work in the current crisis,” explains spokesman Wolfgang Albert. An evaluation of the distribution across individual economic sectors will be available for the agency district in June.
Fewer workers are also sought
The Bavaria-wide data can provide a first clue. In the Free State, almost 104,000 advertisements for short-time work were received from the beginning of April to the end of April. The areas of gastronomy (12 752), retail without motor vehicles (11 731) and healthcare (11 636) are at the forefront. Reliable statements about the size of the businesses affected will only be possible in a few months, Albert continues. To do this, the requests for payment of the short-time allowance, which must be made regardless of the notification of short-time work, must first be processed.
The Corona crisis is also leading to a significant drop in demand for workers: in April, only 670 new jobs were registered in the agency district, 560 or around 45 percent less than in 2019.
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