Doe Corona crisis has massive consequences for the labor market. The state tries to cushion this. For the Federal Agency this means a record minus. The reserves will be used up in the coming year at the latest.
The Federal Employment Agency, which was financially heavily stressed by the Corona crisis, will spend the record sum of 62 billion euros this year. This leads to a deficit of 27 billion euros, which is to be compensated by reaching into the reserves and a liquidity aid from the federal government, said CFO and board member Christiane Schönefeld in Nuremberg.
The federal aid, currently granted as a loan of 7.2 billion euros, should be converted into a grant, said Schönefeld. The record expenditure of 23.5 billion euros flowed mainly into unemployment benefits and more than 19 billion euros into financing short-time work.
Despite the high burden, the Federal Agency is fully capable of acting. "Nobody has to worry about their performance," said Schönefeld. "The consequences of the crisis will continue in 2021 and we are expecting a considerable deficit," she emphasized after drawing up the budget for the coming year. In 2021, the federal government will have to help out again with 3.2 billion euros, the rest of the reserve of 6 billion euros will also be budgeted. The goal is to go debt-free into the 2022 budget year. Final consultations on this are still pending.
"Budget ensures the ability to act"
The Federal Agency does not expect a large wave of insolvencies. For insolvency money, 1.6 billion euros were planned for the coming year – just as much as in the current year. More than before, however, further training and qualification as well as advising young people are to be used again. The subject of skills shortages will be topical again, said Schönefeld.
The board of directors has approved the employment of 5500 new employees by the federal agency in order to be able to cope with the increased volume, for example when processing applications for short-time work allowance. So far, employees from other departments have been assigned, such as career counseling. "With rising unemployment it is also becoming more and more important that we concentrate more on our consulting business again, because we want to use every opportunity on the job market to get people into work."
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