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Short-time work in search and matching models: Evidence from Germany during the Covid-19 crisis

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  • Peltonen, Juho

Abstract

This paper estimates the extent to which unemployment in Germany would have been increased during the Covid-19 recession without a short-time work (STW) labor-market policy which enables employers to reduce temporarily the working hours of full-time workers. A Bayesian estimation of a general equilibrium model with a STW policy, and a simulation of a counterfactual model without STW, show that the German unemployment rate would have been 4.2 percentage points higher without the policy. These results indicate that the STW participates in preventing excess job destruction during economic downturns, and in stabilizing unemployment fluctuations over business cycles.

Suggested Citation

  • Peltonen, Juho, 2023. "Short-time work in search and matching models: Evidence from Germany during the Covid-19 crisis," MPRA Paper 119238, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:119238
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Search and matching; short-time work; Bayesian estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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