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Portrait Professor Pierre Cahuc

Short-time work in France during the Covid-19 crisis

In France short-time work has proved to be a powerful tool to prevent massive layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In France, just like in many other European countries, short-time work has proved to be a powerful tool to prevent massive layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The traditional French short-time work scheme (“Activité partielle”) has been in place since 1951. In this interview, Pierre Cahuc, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po in Paris, will give some insights into the French approach to short-time work and the lessons learnt from applying the instrument during the Covid-19 crisis.

Read the complete interview in our Online-Magazine IAB-Forum: “At the peak, 40 percent of the French labour force were on short-time work”