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Holiday or home office?
Also in 2022 many bank holidays on the weekend
Photo: Vasily Pindyurin / Westend61 / IMAGO
The new year has not yet dawned - it is already spreading a bad mood: 2022 will not be an employee-friendly year either.
Of the nine national public holidays, three are on weekends: These are New Year's, May 1st and Christmas Day.
After all: in 2021 even four public holidays cheated on a Saturday or Sunday.
According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, the nationwide average will have 0.4 days more free in 2022 than in 2021. In addition, one Saturday in 2022 will count more than 2021.
And unlike 2021, two church holidays fall on working days in the New Year, on which students and employees in several federal states have time off: Assumption Day on August 15 and Reformation Day on October 31.
In return, next year Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are Saturdays.
Number of working days drives growth
In other countries, Feiermeier are far better off: If, for example, in Great Britain, Spain or Ireland a public holiday is omitted on a weekend, it is made up on a working day (usually Monday).
In Belgium and Luxembourg, companies have to decide for themselves on which working day they release their employees.
The number of working days has a measurable impact on the economy.
In the first Corona year 2020, a whopping 3.7 days or 1.49 percent more were worked than in 2019, says Timo Wollmershäuser, head of economic research at the Munich Ifo Institute.
"According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, that made GDP growth 0.37 percentage points higher."
It won't be really employee-friendly again until 2024: Then not a single one of the nine Germany-wide public holidays will fall on a weekend.
Until then, the rule is: persevere.
And still start the new year on a positive note - happy new year!
kik / dpa
