Germany: More than a million people lost their jobs because of Covid
In the course of the Covid crisis, more than a million people lost their jobs last year. More than half of them were mini-jobbers, according to a response from the Federal Government to a request from the Left in the Bundestag, which dpa in Berlin has received.
477,000 employees subject to social security contributions lost their jobs. For part-time employment, Covid had a negative 526,000 jobs last year.
These sectors are particularly affected
Accordingly, workers from the tourism industry were particularly affected, for example from the hotel and catering sectors. That was around 398,000 people for mini jobs and regular jobs.
With around 128,000 laid-off regular employees, the manufacturing sector made up another large block. Most of those affected here worked in the metal and electrical industries. However, it should be noted that this industry was already marked by structural change before the Covid pandemic, the report said.
Many people from the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors have also become unemployed: around 78,000 mini-jobbers were affected here.
The labor market policy spokeswoman for the left in the Bundestag, Sabine Zimmermann, accused the federal government of "failed crisis policy". The government and the Federal Employment Agency had secured the job market primarily with short-time work . At times, in April 2020, almost six million people nationwide were on short-time work - 20 percent of employees subject to social security contributions.
Zimmermann told the dpa: "The instrument of short-time work is a holey protective screen." Mini-jobbers in particular have no right to short-time work or unemployment benefits. The left-wing politician called for mini-jobs to be converted into employment subject to social security contributions.
According to the latest figures from the employment agency, there were around 2.8 million jobseekers in Germany in March of this year. That was around 492,000 more than in March 2019. Around 197,000 people were still on short-time work last month. Around one million are considered to be long-term unemployed.
The Covid effect was calculated by comparing the labor market figures since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 with the figures from March 2019. The information available for March to September of the previous year was evaluated. Estimates were used for the months thereafter up to December 2020.
Source: Welt
Photo: Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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