The German Institute for Employment Research (IAB), run by the Federal Labour Office, has calculated that as many as 1.2 million jobs were saved in 2009 by a three percent reduction of working hours. This translates to an average of 50 hours less work per employee.
Eugen Spitznagel, who runs the IAB’s research group for working hours and the job market, told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that around a third, or 400,000, of the 1.2 million jobs saved have become short-time positions.
The rest of the jobs were saved through other cost-cutting methods: shortening the regular working week, cutting over-time, bringing forward holiday entitlements, and introducing more part-time positions.
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