12 175 people became unemployed in the district of the Weilheim employment agency last year, an increase of 37.6 percent over the previous year.
The agency published these figures in its final report for 2020. And it states: The corona pandemic has left "clear marks".
Weilheim - "After 2020 initially followed the positive trend of previous years, the first lockdown hit the labor market with full force in March of that year," says the annual report of the Weilheim Employment Agency, which is responsible for the Weilheim-Schongau districts, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Landsberg, Starnberg and Fürstenfeldbruck is responsible.
The curve for the unemployment figures in the Weilheim-Schongau district climbed further and further up until August as a result of the Corona crisis - to 2470. At the end of the year, the number was 2187 (reference date: December 10th).
The unemployment rate in December was 2.9 percent - the highest December figure since 2009. The number of jobs to be placed was 11.3 percent lower than in 2019.
"Without the massive use of short-time work", according to Oliver Wackenhut, chairman of the agency's management, "a lot more jobs subject to social insurance would have been lost".
In May, the most short-time work was recorded in the agency district for the whole of 2020: 39,384 (of which Weilheim-Schongau district: around 7,500).
Many industries are affected by the pandemic-related decline in employment
The short-time work allowance has the greatest impact on the annual expenses of the Weilheim agency.
According to calculations, the associated costs amount to just under 150 million euros, including over 83 million euros for short-time work benefits and over 64 million euros for employees' social security contributions.
Many industries in the agency district were affected by the pandemic-related decline in employment - the service sector (such as the hotel and restaurant industry) as well as trade and healthcare.
"But there were also constant branches, in some cases even with low employment growth," the agency states in its report.
This included public administration, the area of "education and instruction" and the construction industry.
By June 30, a key date, the agency district was even able to record a slight increase in employment: There were 224,793 employees subject to social security contributions, 419 more than a year earlier.
When the corona-related government restrictions were relaxed, this was also noticeable on the labor market in the district: From mid-May there were new hires, especially in the areas of "catering" and "retail".
The curve of the so-called outflows from unemployment moved upwards into autumn - the highest number of outflows since March, at 708, occurred in October.
Use the low-order phase to train employees
"After an extremely good autumn recovery, the second global corona wave and the lockdown in Germany are dampening the economic recovery," the agency said.
The upswing was slowed towards the end of the year.
According to Wackenhut, the regional labor market got through the crisis better in 2020 than was feared.
“All in all, it was still an agreeable conclusion after it was impossible to predict how the past year would develop.
There was no blueprint for us for this crisis situation ”, the agency boss is quoted in the annual report.
Wackenhut encourages the companies to use the low-order phase to train employees: "Times of the pandemic-related receipt of short-time work allowance should be used more for professional development."
“Our career counselors are currently unable to offer face-to-face events at schools, such as career orientation events and counseling appointments,” says Wackenhut, “but we have to pay special attention to reaching young people in order not to allow corona classes to arise Advice by phone or video communication can keep the agency in contact with young people.
The Corona period has left various traces on the structures within the employment agency.
“We had to restructure our operations and the entire organization within a very short time.
The processing of advertisements and applications in connection with short-time work required additional staff, and this was increased immensely, "Wackenhut is quoted as saying.
The agency had to “catch” the fact that work areas were orphaned because the employees were used elsewhere.
"Without the great commitment of all employees, the assumption of additional tasks and the willingness to work on weekends and overtime", the management of the onslaught would have been "hardly possible" according to the agency boss.