Kurzarbeit – für welche Zwecke die Beschäftigten die zusätzliche disponible Zeit verwenden

Short-time work has been prevalent during the Coronavirus pandemic. It can be considered as a radical and involuntary working time reduction, often with uncertain and partly interrupted duration. Therefore, reductions are not the result of individual choices. On the basis of the Employment Survey carried out by the Hans Böckler Foundation this article shows for what purposes short-time workers used the time elements gained during the Corona pandemic. Previous studies have focused only on individual types of time use, such as care work or further training. In contrast, the Hans Böckler Foundation’s survey of the labour force data allow to look at a broader spectrum of time use and to identify patterns of time use. The empirical analyses show that the increased time available due to short-time work was mainly used for household activities, family, media consumption and childcare. On the other hand, the number of short-time workers who reduced their time commitment in hobbies / ​sports and political activities outweighs those with increased time commitment. This pattern is somewhat more pronounced for women compared to men, but men have also increased their time use in the domestic / ​family sphere.