Temporary work: 20000 short-time workers probably face unemployment
The Corona crisis is shaking up the temporary staffing industry. The number of hours worked plummeted by almost 23 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous year - without taking into account hours worked on short-time work. This is shown by the Swiss Staffing Index as an industry barometer.
Around 20,000 temporary workers are currently on short-time working. With the Federal Council's emergency ordinance expiring on August 31, 2020, this labor market measure will no longer be available to the industry. If the affected employees cannot be reinstated by then, their contracts may be terminated.
Industry association sounds the alarm
"It is incomprehensible why the Federal Council's emergency ordinance is not being extended until the new Covid 19 law has been passed by parliament" criticizes Leif Agnéus, president of the swissstaffing industry association. "The lack of a follow-up solution for short-time work for temporary employees unnecessarily endangers numerous temporary employment relationships at the beginning of September." Particularly tricky: Even though further, presumably regional or industry-specific lockdowns cannot be ruled out, the new law no longer provides for a short-time work solution for temporary workers. Despite public pressure, they did not send all temporary workers on short-time work across the board. Instead, they limited their applications to employment relationships with a long-term perspective, as stipulated by law and regulation. Leif Agnéus demands: "Parliament must act urgently and integrate short-time work for temporary workers into the law."
Temporary work in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino particularly affected
The Corona virus and the lockdown have hit French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino hard, not only in terms of health but also economically. A survey by gfs-zürich among swissstaffing members shows that the number of temporary workers in these regions fell by 80 to 90 percent during the lockdown. By comparison, the number of temporary workers in German-speaking Switzerland fell by a good 40 percent. Much of the decline is not due to layoffs, but to the expiration of temporary contracts on the one hand and a lack of new hires on the other. Looking to the future, it is worrying that business activity has not yet picked up strongly across Switzerland as a whole, despite the easing measures in June. Fortunately, however, a faster recovery is emerging in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.
Source: Swissstaffing
