- Title: Germany in worst recession since WW2
- Date: 30th April 2020
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (APRIL 30, 2020) (REUTERS) GERMAN EMPLOYMENT MINISTER HUBERTUS HEIL ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN EMPLOYMENT MINISTER HUBERTUS HEIL, SAYING: "The unemployment rate increases from 5,1% to 5,8% this month. However, the unemployment Germany would be even more if it wasn't for the proven tool of short-time work. Short-time work are our strongest instrument against redundancies. It protects millions of people. And it has to be said in international comparison, in the last five month 26 millions disappeared in the U.S. In Germany millions of jobs are saved by short-time work." HEIL SPEAKING CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN EMPLOYMENT MINISTER HUBERTUS HEIL, SAYING: "Germany secures millions of jobs. The trend shows that we also in our country we won't be able to guarantee every job, but we are going to fight for every job. Short-time work is expensive. Unemployment would be far more expensive. The Labour office started into this year with reserves of around 26 billion euros. It will show in the course of this year if the reserves will be sufficient or if additional state liquidity aid is needed." HEIL LEAVING
- Embargoed: 14th May 2020 13:17
- Keywords: German recession coronavirus global recession markets short-time work unemployment
- Location: NUREMBERG, MUNICH, WOLFSBURG, BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: NUREMBERG, MUNICH, WOLFSBURG, BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA003CBOLVT3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:German unemployment soared in April, while monthly retail sales declined last month at their fastest rate in 13 years, as the coronavirus lockdown hit Europe's biggest economy hard.
Germany is braced for its deepest recession since World War Two, the economy minister has warned, as the shutdown has shuttered many shops, businesses and factories, although a gradual easing of restrictions has started.
The number of people out of work in Germany saw a record increase in April, rising by 373,000 to 2.639 million, Labour Office data showed. That took the unemployment rate to 5.8% from a seasonally adjusted 5.0% a month earlier.
The head of the Labour Office, Detlef Scheele said he expected to use reserves of about 26 billion euros this year for the scheme, adding that because the scheme was working, redundancies would not be widespread.
Some 751,000 requests for short-time work for a total of 10.1 million people were made in March and until April 26 though not all of those will end up on the short-time work scheme.
Unemployment in Germany would be much worse without the government's short-time work scheme that is securing millions of jobs, German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil said on Thursday (April 30).
Heil, who said he would fight for every job, added that it was unclear how long the scheme's reserves would last and it might be necessary to organise liquidity aid for the scheme. Short-time work is a form of state aid that allows employers to switch employees to shorter working hours during an economic downturn to keep them on the payroll.
(Production: Oliver Barth, Niklas Roschek, Tanya Wood, Ulrike Heil) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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