Short-time work declines

Illustration of antibodies (y-shaped) responding to an infection with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The virus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and causes a mild respiratory illness (covid-19) that can develop into pneumonia and be fatal in some cases. The coronaviruses take their name from their crown (corona) of surface proteins, which are used to attach and penetrate their host cells. Once inside the cells, the particles use the cells' machinery to make more copies of the virus. Antibodies bind to specific antigens, for instance viral proteins, marking them for destruction by other immune cells, such as the macrophage white blood cell behind the virus.

The number of German companies using short-time work continued to “fall slowly” as the share declined from 42 percent in July to 37 percent in August, according to a survey among 9 000 companies by the German ifo Institute published on Monday.

The governmental short-time work allowance, which was extended from 12 to 24 months last week, financially supports companies to keep their employees at reduced hours during the Covid-19 crisis.

“The proportion of companies with short-time work has declined across almost all sectors, even if the overall numbers are still high,” said ifo labour market expert Sebastian Link.

The share of companies making use of short-time in the trade sector and service sector fell to 33 and 26 percent in August respectively. According to ifo, construction sector was “relatively unaffected” at only seven percent.

Manufacturing sector, however, still relied heavily on short-time work. According to ifo, more than one in two German manufacturing companies still made use of the short-time work allowance in August. In the service sector, 88 percent of travel agencies and tour operators used short-time work.

The short-time work programme was implemented by a record number of companies at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. — Xinhua.