“500,000 Jobs in Danger”: Is Sunday Shopping Coming Now?


“500,000 Jobs at Risk”
Is the Sunday shopping coming now?

After the losses that stationary retailers suffered as a result of the lockdown, DIW boss Fratzscher is now urgently calling for fairer competition. With their “tight corset” they could not assert themselves against online trading. Retail warns of massive job losses.

The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, calls for opening hours to be relaxed in view of the difficult situation of many retailers. “A liberalization of the shop opening times is urgently required so that the stationary retail trade can assert itself in the competition against the online trade and secure jobs,” said Fratzscher to the “Handelsblatt”.

The economist stood on the side of the trade association HDE, which is calling for an opening on Sundays as well. “Due to the pandemic, there was a massive shift towards online trading, which will not be completely reversed even after the pandemic,” explained Fratzscher. However, fair competitive conditions did not mean that people could shop online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but stationary retail trade had a “tight corset” and had to be closed on Sundays.

“Instead of sanctions or charges for online trading, politics should make stationary retail trade more attractive,” said the DIW boss. In addition to more flexible shopping times, this also includes modern urban concepts that make inner cities more attractive again. “This not only has an immediate economic value, but it is also very important from a social and societal perspective that people meet and come into contact with one another.”

The HDE had proposed that the shops should also be open on Sundays at least until the end of the year. This gives retailers the chance to make up at least part of the sales lost during the lockdowns and would also be a signal to people that the city centers are open again. In addition, there should be more reliable rules for legally secure occasional Sunday opening.

“Town centers may not become deserted any further”

In addition to the HDE trade association, the Association of Towns and Municipalities also spoke out in favor of extending shop opening times. “We have to do everything now to ensure that our inner cities and town centers do not become deserted,” said managing director Gerd Landsberg to the “Handelsblatt”. “It would be a positive signal to allow additional Sunday opening hours.” Landsberg referred to the threatening situation of the trade and the danger for hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Over 100,000 retail stores could close or not open at all, Landsberg said. This would put almost 500,000 jobs at stake. The online trade, however, was able to increase its sales to over 72 billion euros last year, also due to the pandemic. Additional Sunday opening hours would therefore be “a small but important signal that the city centers and town centers have a future”.

The FDP already supported the move as a suitable economic aid for the retail sector. The Verdi union, on the other hand, rejected him as an overly short-sighted “general attack on the trade workers, their families, but also on the Basic Law”.

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