Clara Heinrich (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany) was awarded the BUIRA prize for the best contribution to the Association’s Annual Conference, held at Queen Mary University, London. The title of her thesis is A European Comparison of Job Retention Programmes, focusing on labour market policies introduced during the financial crisis (2008-09) and the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the financial crisis, labour market policies for short time working in Germany were praised for their protection of employees. Shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic, the European Commission recommended the implementation of Job Retention Programmes (JRP) to preserve jobs and support companies. The EU backed up its recommendation with the temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) and made considerable financial resources available to its member states. However, the organisation of JRPs varies considerably between the different welfare states in Europe, even where they have similar welfare institutions, depending, inter alia, on the primary objective and type of support.
Clara’s thesis examines the institutional and political variables behind the variance in JRPs (e.g., short time working, furlough schemes and wage subsidy schemes). In particular, her thesis explores whether there is evidence of ‘policy learning’ between member states based on the success of Germany’s short time working policies.