More than half of these companies used an ERTE and one in three stopped supplying electricity and gas
More than half of hospitality businesses resorted to the ERTE mechanism to move forward in the pandemic. It was the measure most used by companies from all sectors, but especially those in the hospitality industry as many had to close their activity completely. This is evident from the report of the Association of Civil Registrars, which shows that nine out of ten companies that reported ERTE did so to suspend employment contracts and three out of ten also combined this measure with a reduction in working hours.
The ERTEs affected three out of four SME workers, while for large companies the impact was smaller, affecting less than half of the workers. In terms of duration, the ERTE had an average lifespan of more than 5 months (158 days) for SMEs and slightly longer for employees in large companies (167 days).
Behind the hotel industry was the manufacturing industry, where 16% of the companies in this sector had to use an ERTE; and health activities (14%).
Also in the hospitality industry, companies like no other asked for flexibility of contracts or temporary cessation of energy supplies (34.4% of the total, one in three) because of their high dependence on the use of consuming machines . Closely followed by commercial companies (18%), which also rely heavily on energy for their expenditure on air conditioning and lighting in their buildings.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
