In January 2021, approximately 9.58 million jobs in Europe's three largest economies were being supported by temporary employment schemes, with the UK's job retention scheme supporting approximately 4.88 million jobs, France's Chômage partiel scheme 2.1 million, while 2.6 million workers were on Germany's Kurzarbeit system. Although some of these partial employment mechanisms were already in place before the COVID-19 pandemic, their usage accelerated considerably after the first Coronavirus lockdowns in Spring 2020.
How much will this cost European governments?
Early on in the pandemic, European governments moved swiftly to limit the damage that the Coronavirus pandemic would cause to the labor market. The spectre of mass unemployment, which would put a huge strain on European benefit systems anyway, was enough to encourage significant government spending and intervention. To this end, the European Union made 100 billion Euros of loans available through it's unemployment support fund (SURE). As of March 2021, Italy had received 20.95 billion Euros in loans from the SURE mechanism, and is set to be loaned 27.4 billion Euros overall. Spain and Poland will receive the second and third highest amount from the plan, at 21.3 billion, and 15.06 billion Euros respectively.
What about the UK?
The United Kingdom is not involved in the European Union's SURE scheme, but has also paid substantial amounts of money to keep unemployment at bay. As of January 31, 2021, there had been more than 11.2 million jobs furloughed on the UK's job retention scheme. By this date, the expenditure of this measure had reached 53.8 billion British pounds, with this figure expected to increase further, following the extension of the scheme to September 2021.
Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021
(in millions)
Data for the United Kingdom is from HM Revenue and Customs. Number provided is the number of jobs on furlough on the 15th day of the relevant calendar month.
Data for France is from the Statistical Office for Labour and Employment (DARES)
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HM Revenue and Customs, & DARES, & Bundesagentur für Arbeit, & ifo Institut. (February 25, 2021). Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 31, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/
HM Revenue and Customs, und DARES, und Bundesagentur für Arbeit, und ifo Institut. "Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in millions)." Chart. February 25, 2021. Statista. Accessed October 31, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/
HM Revenue and Customs, DARES, Bundesagentur für Arbeit, ifo Institut. (2021). Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: October 31, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/
HM Revenue and Customs, and DARES, and Bundesagentur für Arbeit, and ifo Institut. "Number of Workers Covered by The Main Government Job Retention Schemes in The United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 25 Feb 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/
HM Revenue and Customs & DARES & Bundesagentur für Arbeit & ifo Institut, Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/ (last visited October 31, 2024)
Number of workers covered by the main government job retention schemes in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany from April 2020 to January 2021 (in millions) [Graph], HM Revenue and Customs, & DARES, & Bundesagentur für Arbeit, & ifo Institut, February 25, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211475/jobs-on-furlough-europe/