Netherlands: partial unemployment benefits extended

Partial unemployment is the only special concrete measure taken by The Hague regarding employment to fight the impact of the crisis. No tax or other aids have been given to businesses. This system follows a working time reduction system implemented in the fall of 2008 for businesses facing a 30% drop in sales within two months (see our dispatch No. 081049). Enforced as a matter of urgency, this system, called “werktijdverkorting,” was working until March, for a total amount of €200 million. But when the crisis started to worsen in April, a similar partial unemployment system (deeltijd-WW) was established, with no requirement of dropping sales for businesses.
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s), the €375 million planned for this year ran out by the end of June (see our dispatch No. 090669). Therefore, the Ministry of Social Affairs unfroze €175 million, and the government updated this system, which should keep applying for several months. The objective was to limit benefits: employers who have sent all their staff to partial unemployment for three months will only be entitled to the system for one additional quarter. This limit is brought to one year for 30-60% of the staff. Finall

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