Working Time Flexibility Prevented Mass Unemployment

Politics ♦ Published: November 4, 2010; 02:43 ♦ (Vindobona)

During the crisis, many German and Austrian companies flexibilized the working hours of their employees. These measures helped to ease the labor market situation.

Working Time Flexibility Prevented Mass Unemployment / Picture: © Vindobona.org

Neither legal action nor collective contractual agreements between the social partners were able to reassure the labor market during the economic crisis, but the agreements at company level on working time flexibility indeed succeeded in doing so.

In Austria, this was particularly true for the metal, construction and manufacturing industries. Corporations such as BMW, voestalpine…