A new wave of coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Europe, there are more and more countries that are recording an increase in the number of infected people, but also layoffs in the economy.
Such a scenario has forced many countries to consider new measures, such as the temporary closure of part of the economy, which will have an additional negative impact on long-term business, as well as employment.
Only in the last few days, pessimistic news and forecasts about dismissals from Croatia, Austria, Romania and other surrounding countries have arrived.
There are no announcements in Serbia that there could be a drastic dismissal of workers, but businessmen are carefully monitoring the development of both the epidemiological and economic situation in the region.
The Croatian Prime Minister announced an additional package of measures to support the economy in the current epidemiological situation, which should keep the unemployment rate low, the liquidity of companies and provide a smaller decline than forecast for this year.
These measures will refer to the reduction of working hours and financial support, and will be worth up to about 45 million euros.
The additional package of measures will last during October, November and December, but the director general of the Croatian Employers’ Association, Damir Zoric, is still worried that a possible new “lockdown” due to the corona virus pandemic would kill the Croatian economy.
– Remember what happened in that quarter when we had it. What was that decline – Zoric emphasized in the show Otvoreno on HRT.
In Austria, where a large number of Serbian guest workers also work, the number of unemployed has increased by about 4,000 people in the past seven days. The Employment Service (AMS) currently cares for 413,241 unemployed people, of whom 64,887 are in further education. Compared to the same period last year, that is 71,000 more unemployed.
By the way, the largest number of unemployed was recorded in mid-April, as a consequence of the beginning of the pandemic, with 588,205 unemployed persons registered with the AMS. Since then, the number of unemployed has started to decline.
The new increase in unemployment was explained by the Minister of Labor, Kristina Ashbacher, by the seasonal effects, and she pointed out that Austria was well prepared to overcome the coming months by extending the reduced work and the employment offensive.
A survey by the economic institution Wifo warns that from 2021, 5,500 to 5,800 companies could go bankrupt.
Severe economic measures due to the corona virus could leave more than 500,000 people in Romania without a job, and more than 300,000 companies could go bankrupt or went bankrupt, reports Adjepres.
The effects of economic difficulties, both for employees and business owners, could be felt next year.
According to official data, by August 28, Romania had attracted 12.8 billion foreign capital in the period from 2014 to 2020 from the European investment program, the European Commission announced.
As for that six-year period, Romania could benefit from the EU budget of 36.7 billion euros in aid, making it the sixth country in the Union to receive the most money from the European investment budget, Srbija Danas reports.
