“Kurzarbeit” has had a positive employment effect during the crisis beneficial especially for the employment of workers on permanent contracts, typically older workers Whereas labour input adjustment has been made through the reduction of (temporary) workers in many countries, in Germany the adjustment has been made largely in hours per worker with the so called “Kurzarbeit” short time working scheme.
Our imports have continued to grow in line with our quite strong domestic demand, but our exports have fallen appreciably, and there is less confidence that they will be lifted in the near future by firmer foreign demand. I will say more about this in a few minutes.