X Temporary Wage Subsidies / 21 / May / 2020 1 Temporary Wage Subsidies X 21 / May / 2020 This factsheet provides an overview or workers with disabilities – more generalised temporary wage subsidies are used in times of crisis to save jobs and of temporary wage subsidies help enterprises to keep as many employees as possible implemented during the Covid-19 crisis. on the payroll. During the COVID-19 crisis, wage subsidies have been implemented to maintain the employment The consequences of the COVID-19 health pandemic relationship during the lockdown in enterprises and for enterprises and workers have been unexpected sectors closed through government order or acute and devastating. Initially, as the virus spread, many sanitary conditions. They were later extended, sometimes countries went into “lockdown”, ordering the closure of under modified conditions, to prevent layoffs during non-essential workplaces, and also borders, to protect the the economic downturn that followed the end of the health of their populations. The sudden stop of economic lockdown. activities engendered a supply shock at international scale without precedent. Millions of enterprises and workers What characterises wage subsidies is the explicit were affected. In a second phase, as some countries in objective of maintenance and continuation of the some regions started to reopen their economies within employment relationship, an objective that is beneficial a context of uncertainty, a declining aggregate demand to both workers and enterprises. The use of wage was expected to lead to a demand-side recession. As this subsidies allows enterprises and workers to express their factsheet is written, the duration of the crisis, and the mutual desire to keep the employment relationship alive, scale of its impact on enterprises and workers is unclear even if this relationship may be temporarily suspended yet and predictions on the “new normality” are difficult. due to financial restrictions. By doing so, wage subsidies maintain the economic fabric of a country, helping As part of a wider range of policy measures to enterprises to recover their productive capacity as rapidly counteract the economic and labour market effects as possible after a crisis, to overcome the supply side of the crisis, many countries adopted the strategy of effect of the crisis, as well as preventing workers from implementing temporary wage subsidies. Temporary losing their jobs and related benefits, including those wage subsidies are not a new instrument, but the scale that accumulate with seniority – one of the few ways of their use in the current crisis is unprecedented. They for workers to increase their wages in many emerging were adopted under different names, ranging from economies. Kurzarbeit (or short time work allowance) in Germany, to activité partielle (partial unemployment) in France, and the Experience from the 2007/08 global financial crisis so-called Furloughing of workers in the United Kingdom shows that temporary wage subsidies can prevent mass and United States. Temporary wage subsidy programs layoffs, help enterprises retain their skilled workers, have also been adopted in many other countries, such and support the recovery of production after economic as in Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, Malaysia or – in a more shocks. Temporary wage subsidies have been found to limited way – in Bangladesh. have a large positive effect on employment. They allow liquidity constrained firms to engage in labour retention, Temporary wage subsidies in times of crisis differ preserving their skilled workforce in the downturn, and to from the usual wage subsidy programmes targeted recover more quickly after recessions. The subsidies also at specific workers as part of Active Labour Market limit the increase in inequality resulting from an economic Programmes (ALMPs). While targeted subsidies seek to crisis, as well as to support consumption, aggregate encourage firms to employ specific categories of workers demand and economic recovery.1 During the global – for example young workers, the long-term unemployed, X Temporary Wage Subsidies / 21 / May / 2020 2 financial crisis, the REPRO in Argentina saved hundreds Tax reductions may be related to wages or social security of thousands of jobs, and an estimated 580 000 jobs were contributions, or apply to other forms of taxation. saved in Germany through the implementation of short- Similarly, (subsidized) loans may be extended with or time work (STW) schemes.2 without the explicit objective to support the payment of wages. Most of the time, these policy instruments may be However, many questions arise on how temporary combined. wage subsidies should best be designed and there is no unique recipe of adequate design. How high should In some instances, temporary wage subsidies build the wage subsidies be? Who should be eligible? Should upon existing schemes – such as short time working it be extended to all enterprises or only to a sub-set of allowance - which is an advantage in times of crisis. firms? How long should these temporary subsidies last? In Germany, for example, a subsidy for short hours What are some of the practical difficulties to implement (“Kurzarbeit”) also exists in normal times for enterprises them? Should they go directly to the workers or through with financial difficulties, but eligibility is much more the enterprise? Should they be paid by the firm and then restricted as enterprises have to submit proof that they reimbursed? What will be the benefits of such subsidies, are viable. Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, from the perspective of reduced unemployment and France, and Switzerland have similar policies. In more rapid economic recovery? What will be the cost Argentina, the REPRO programme has been kept in of such subsidies, including on the financial situation place since 2009 but requires a different set of formal of public institutions and public budget? These and administrative procedures in normal times. Where such other aspects of policy design co-determine the cost schemes are already in place, these mechanisms can be effectiveness of wage subsidy schemes. upscaled to provide more general wage subsidies in times of crisis. Where such programmes do not exist, putting Social dialogue is key for designing adequate in place wage subsidy schemes in times of crisis may temporary wage subsidy schemes, which take into be more challenging from a logistical point of view, as account country circumstances. This factsheet is meant pointed out later in this factsheet. to support informed social dialogue around the design of a temporary wage subsidy programme in times of crisis. While wage subsidies are normally in the form of Section I starts with some preliminary considerations grants, in some countries wage support interventions and a brief review of various mechanisms of wage come in the form of credit and loans. The United support available to governments. Section II addresses States implemented the Employment Retention Credit, the specifics of wage subsidy programmes, with some incentivizing employers to keep employees on the payroll examples from different countries around the world. The by providing a 50 percent credit up to $10’000 of wages last section provides some concluding considerations. paid. For small and medium sized enterprises, the United More detailed information on selected country States has implemented the Paycheck Protection Program programmes can be found in the appendix. Loans, where employers must show that 75 percent of loans were used for workers’ wages. In both programs, I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS the credits are transformed into grants when they are Wage subsidies are only one among several policies used to pay workers’ wages. that should be used simultaneously to support wages and preserve enterprises and jobs. This is illustrated in II. KEY ELLEMENTS OF POLICY DESIGN – Figure 1. Wage subsidies are frequently used together COUNTRY EXAMPLES with measures such as tax reductions or (subsidized) loans extended to enterprises. a. Who is eligible and under which conditions? Figure 1. Taxonomy of public interventions in support of wages In many instances, all types of enterprises and organisations are eligible – on the condition that they are registered. In New Zealand and Australia, for example, this includes all registered enterprises, including incorporated societies, charities, NGOs, the own-account workers and contractors. In France, individuals who employ care or domestic workers are also eligible to a specific wage subsidy, which amounts to 80 percent of the net wage corresponding to the hours not worked. In the Philippines only the formal sector has introduced flexible working hours due to the pandemic. In Brazil workers must be registered, with a work and social security card. Source: ILO, 2020 1 See for example Hijzen and Venn, 2011. Also see Messenger, J.C.; Ghosheh, N. 2013. Work sharing during the Great Recession: New developments and beyond. (Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. and Geneva, International Labour Office). 2 Hijzen and Martin, 2012 X Temporary Wage Subsidies / 21 / May / 2020 3 In Tunisia, enterprises are allowed to apply for the scheme due to the crisis. Until end of May, as soon as a worker if they register to the social security fund by the 15th of resumed work, the subsidy stopped. The scheme got May. Interestingly, therefore, temporary wage subsidies extended until end of October. Starting in August a new in Tunisia may also be a way to promote formalization. flexible measure allowing furloughed employees to go back to work part time was implemented. The Republic In some instances, only some types of enterprises of Korea facilitated access to its employment retention or some sectors are eligible. Processing applications subsidy programme, and temporarily increased the wage of thousands or more enterprises, and verifying the subsidy for enterprises if they keep their employees on eligibility conditions, in a short time frame can be paid-leave or leave of absence programmes. overwhelming. In Thailand, for example, wage subsidies are only available for small and medium sized enterprises In other instances, wage subsidies can compensate (SMEs)3.