Number of companies applying for simplified layoff scheme exceeds 100K
According to the Office of Strategy and Planning of the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, the number of companies applying to join the simplified layoff scheme exceeded 100,000.
The number of companies applying to join the simplified layoff scheme exceeded 100,000, corresponding to a potential number of over 1.2 million workers, according to official figures.
The data were updated by the Office of Strategy and Planning of the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, which presents statistics since March 31 on this measure approved in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
From March 31st until yesterday (Monday), Social Security registered 102,489 requests from companies for a potential group of 1,258,938 workers, but not all of them will be covered by the simplified ‘layoff’.
About 80% of the applications are from companies with less than 10 employees and more than 20% are from the Lisbon region, according to the statistics.
Last Tuesday, in a press conference to assess the measures, the Minister of Labour, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that about 600,000 people and 70,000 companies will receive support under the Covid-19 pandemic until May 5, for a total of €216 million.
Ana Mendes Godinho said that by April 30 support will be paid to 450,000 workers and 53,500 companies, of which 218,000 are workers covered by the simplified layoff, 109,000 are independent workers, 88,000 are family support and 37,000 are people in prophylactic isolation.
The remaining payments will be made by May 5th, according to the minister.
Workers are entitled to receive two-thirds of their gross normal pay with a minimum limit of €635 and a maximum limit of €1,905, 70% of which is financed by Social Security and 30% by the company.
Companies in a situation of proven business crisis due to total or partial closure by legislative or administrative determination, or due to the interruption of global supply chains or the suspension or cancellation of orders may have access.
Companies can also join the support if they have falls of at least 40% of their invoicing in the previous 30 days, with reference to the monthly average of the two months prior to that period, or to the same period of the previous year or, for those who started their activity less than 12 months ago, to the average of that period.
