The federal government wants to secure the labor market in Germany even if the Russian war of aggression continues to have negative economic effects on Ukraine.
“We can shield what is currently foreseeable on the labor market with a strong welfare state,” said Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) to the German Press Agency in Berlin. “If the crisis worsens, we will take additional measures.” In the debate about tightening sanctions against Russia, Heil warned to always pay attention to internal and social peace in Germany.
Heil said: “When dealing with the consequences of Putin’s terrible war of aggression in Ukraine for the labor market and economy in Germany, we can learn from the experiences of the ongoing crisis resulting from the corona pandemic.” Short-time work served as a “strong bridge over a very deep economic valley” can secure millions of jobs and stabilize demand.
Since 2020, 44.1 billion euros have been spent on short-time work, 26 billion of which come from reserves of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The effort was worth it, the job market remained robust and stable. “My goal is that we keep the German labor market robust and stable even through these difficult times,” said the SPD politician.
Heil referred to the 590,000 short-time workers forecast by the BA on average for 2022. This is a lot, but still less than at the beginning of 2020. “At the beginning of the pandemic, we had peaks of up to 6 million people on short-time work,” said Heil . “But we don’t know how long this war will last.” The consequences can already be felt in the supply chains, for example. That is why the conditions for short-time work were quickly adjusted after the beginning of the war, for example short-time work was also opened up to temporary work.
“As the federal government, we will come to an agreement in such a way that the federal agency is able to act at any time and can build up reserves again after the crises,” said the Minister of Labor.
At the same time, Heil pointed out that the war in Ukraine could have long-term and serious economic consequences for Germany. “We don’t know what other economic and social consequences this war will have.” In an interview published over the weekend, Heil had mentioned expected economic growth of 1.4 to 1.5 percent for Germany this year – provided that the war does not spread and that the energy supply is in place.
Heil said: “That also depends on the question of what measures we take in the area of sanctions.” Very severe sanctions have been imposed. The pressure on the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin must be increased further. “But we always have to keep in mind that our sanctions hurt Putin more than us.”
On Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) described the sanctions previously imposed on Russia as “highly effective” and defended Germany’s no to an immediate gas boycott. When asked whether there could be a situation in which external security took precedence over social security and a complete energy embargo was then indicated, Heil said: “I believe that external strength and security as well as internal and social peace are two sides of the same coin. “
Heil said: “We will feel the consequences of this terrible war for many, many years, including here.” Wherever possible, he will do his part to mitigate the consequences for the German labor market, cushion price increases and that refugees would be integrated.”It would not be wise to play off the necessities of external security against social security,” says Heil. “As a society, we have to be resilient both internally and externally, and our state that is capable of acting and strong state must fulfill its responsibility to protect internally and also be fair to the outside world.” (dpa)