Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/271310 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal for Labour Market Research [ISSN:] 2510-5027 [Volume:] 56 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 11 [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 1-22
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Germany and the United States pursued different economic strategies to minimise the impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the labour market. Germany focused on safeguarding existing jobs through the use of internal flexibility measures, especially short-time work (STW). The United States relied on a mix of external flexibility and income protection. On this basis, we use macroeconomic time series to examine the German strategy of securing employment through internal flexibility by contrasting it with the chosen strategy in the United States. In Germany, temporary cyclical reductions in working hours are mainly driven via STW. US unemployment rose at an unprecedented rate, but unlike in previous recessions, it was mostly driven by temporary layoffs. However, a closer look at the blind spots of the chosen strategies in both countries showed that despite the different approaches, people in weaker labour market positions were less well protected by the chosen strategies.
Subjects: 
Coronavirus recession
Covid-19 pandemic
External flexibility
Great recession
Internal flexibility
Safeguarding employment
Short-time work
Temporary layoffs
Unemployment
Working-time reduction
JEL: 
E24
E32
J08
J20
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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