Measures of Employment Securing in Federal State Comparison

Abstract

In the IAB study it is investigated which employment-securing measures have been taken in different federal states to ease the dramatic effects of the financial crisis on the labour market. We compare company measures (short-time work, wage subsidies or wage cuts) as well as measures of occupational reintegration of unemployed people (wages top-up benefits, active labour market policy, qualification and integration benefits) and measures of improvement of social security in case of job loss (unemployment insurance and social assistance). Focal points of this study are the usage and forms of short-time work in a European comparison. It is found that in many countries - amongst others, Germany - the securing of employment through working time measures and the keeping of staff has been successful, and that short-time work largely contributed hereto. Altogether, however, the empirical findings on short-time work add up to an ambiguous picture: Short-time work is not a 'miracle cure' against the crisis. In the short run, it has indeed prevented mass layoffs; in the long run, however, it cannot stabilise employment in particular establishments. (IAB)

Cite article

Konle-Seidl, R. & Rhein, T. (2009): Maßnahmen der Beschäftigungssicherung im Ländervergleich. In: Internationale Sozialpolitische Nachrichten No. Sonderausgabe, p. 7-28.