Around 470,000 firms in Germany applied for short-time work - Labour Office

Around 470,000 companies in Germany have applied for a government short-time work scheme in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Federal Labour Office said on Tuesday, adding requests had come from many sectors, especially retail, hotels and catering.

Short-time work is a form of state aid that allows employers to switch employees to shorter working hours during an economic downturn to keep them on the payroll. It has been widely used by industry, including Germany's car sector.