Using firm-level data from a large-scale European survey among 20 countries, we analyse the determinants of firms using short-time work (STW). We show that firms are more likely to use STW in case of negative demand shocks. We show that STW schemes are more likely to be used by firms with high degrees of firm-specific human capital, high firing costs, and operating in countries with stringent employment protection legislation and a high degree of downward nominal wage rigidity. STW use is higher in countries with formalised schemes and in countries where these schemes were extended in response to the recent crisis. On the wider economic impact of STW, we show that firms using the schemes are significantly less likely to lay off permanent workers in response to a negative shock, with no impact for temporary workers. Relating our STW take-up measure in the micro data to aggregate data on employment and output trends, we show that sectors with a high STW take-up exhibit significantly less cyclical variation in employment.

中文翻译：

---

大萧条中的短期工作：来自20个欧盟国家的公司级证据

我们使用来自20个国家/地区的大型欧洲调查的公司级数据，分析了使用短时工作（STW）的公司的决定因素。我们显示，在需求负面冲击的情况下，企业更可能使用STW。我们表明，具有较高公司特定人力资本，较高解雇成本，并且在具有严格的就业保护法规和高度降低的名义工资刚性的国家中开展业务的公司，更可能使用STW计划。在有正式计划的国家以及为应对最近的危机而扩大了这些计划的国家中，STW的使用率更高。关于STW的更广泛的经济影响，我们表明，使用该计划的公司因负面冲击而解雇长期工的可能性大大降低，而对临时工没有影响。