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Closed bar in Hanover in November: minimum short-time work allowance of 1200 euros required
Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
The extended corona shutdown has triggered criticism from business associations and unions.
They are demanding more help from the state: The food, enjoyment, and restaurants unions (NGG) and Ver.di are demanding higher short-time allowances for employees in the catering industry.
The NGG proposes a minimum short-time work allowance of 1200 euros and a one-off immediate Corona emergency aid of 1000 euros.
"The wages of waiters or cooks are low anyway - the short-time allowance is simply not enough in the long term," NGG boss Guido Zeitler told the newspapers of the "Funke Mediengruppe".
According to the "Lebensmittel-Zeitung" newspaper, Ver.di is also demanding that the short-time work allowance be increased to at least 1200 euros per month.
The retail sector, in turn, is demanding a roadmap for reopening shops and higher government aid.
The online business is booming and supermarkets have also benefited from the pandemic, but the existence of two-thirds of the shops in the city centers is threatened according to a trade association survey.
"The closed trading companies now need clear statements about the conditions under which they can resume their operations and when," said the managing director of the HDE industry association, Stefan Genth.
Simply extending the shutdown and not presenting any prospects or plans for a reopening is not enough.
Genth called for improvements to be made to help: "A wave of bankruptcies is looming as we have never seen it before."
The federal and state governments had agreed, among other things, to extend the shutdown until the end of January and tighten contact restrictions.
In addition, freedom of movement in corona hotspots is to be limited.
From a 7-day incidence of more than 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, the federal states should take local measures to limit the radius of movement to 15 kilometers around the place of residence, unless there is a valid reason.
Read about it here:
The shutdowns come faster than the money
In view of this tightening, the president of the trade, Hans Peter Wollseifer, is demanding faster vaccinations.
"So that we can return to less restricted everyday life and business operations as quickly as possible, it must finally be possible to noticeably curb the incidence of infections." Everyone can make their contribution by reducing contacts.
"It is all the more important that everything is now done to vaccinate as quickly and extensively as possible."
"The November aid must not turn into spring aid"
Economists meanwhile consider the economic consequences of the tightening in the form of the restriction of the radius of movement to be manageable.
"If professional mobility remains possible, the additional economic costs should be kept within limits," said Gabriel Felbermayr, President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), of "Welt".
Tourism, gastronomy, shopping trips are not possible anyway.
According to Michael Hüther, Director of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW), it is crucial that the trip to the production site remains possible.
Economists also estimate the consequences of extending the shutdown to be minor.
Ifo President Clemens Fuest told the “Welt” this is painful for the sectors affected, especially retail and catering.
But one should not overlook the fact that large parts of the economy, especially industrial companies, remain open.
The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) assumes that the prolongation of the hard lockdown will only have a short-term impact on the economic recovery.
"If the infection numbers are effectively depressed, a strong recovery is possible in the spring," said DIW economic chief Claus Michelsen of the newspaper.
Meanwhile, new criticism of the longer shutdown is coming from the real estate industry.
It is now particularly important that help flows quickly and unbureaucratically, demanded the Central Real Estate Committee.
"The November aid must not just turn into spring aid," said President Andreas Mattner.
"So that the corona wave is not followed by a wave of insolvency, action must be taken now." Numerous companies affected by the shutdown are on the verge of ruin.
The tourism association criticized: »It was a mistake to set tourism in Germany to zero with the resolutions of October 28, 2020, but to forego measures in other areas.
That is now taking its toll and extending the lockdown, ”said DTV managing director Norbert Kunz.
The current extension is therefore painful, but understandable.
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apr / dpa
