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The Economic Crisis and Workshops for Adapted Work
Workshops for adapted work in Germany are usual market participants. Although labour productivity is much lower than in profit-oriented companies, the main aim of these rehabilitation institutions is not the maximization of profits.
Workshops offer the possibility of participating in working and community life to disabled persons, who because of the nature and severity of their disability can only be employed for less than three hours every day under the usual conditions of the general labour market.
The workshop’s task is to prepare the disabled persons for the transition to the general labour market (if there is any possibility to do so), to develop their personality and – in most cases – to offer them a permanent possibility of working.
Workshops need to be economically active in order to be able to pay any remuneration. In this regard, they are usual market participants and thus exposed to the ups and downs of the market.
2009 was economically a difficult year. Especially car manufacturer suffered significant losses. Therefore, workshops working for these companies were affected by high decrease of orders. Consequently, the remuneration payment began to decline. It is assumed that payment fell by 10% to 20% throughout the country. In some regions, the decrease was even higher. Workshops that are active in the service sector (laundry, catering etc.) registered lower losses.
Though persons working in workshops cannot be dismissed because their status is not that of employees but of persons to be rehabilitated, their estimated average remuneration sank by 15%. However, there are regional differences all over the country that do not correspond to the classical east-west differences. Some workshops reported that the turnover with particular customers fell by up to 80%.
Altogether, 2009 was a difficult year. We hope for an economic recovery in 2010 that will revive the economic activity of workshops, too. This is the only way for workshops to fulfil their task of rehabilitation.
Workshops offer the possibility of participating in working and community life to disabled persons, who because of the nature and severity of their disability can only be employed for less than three hours every day under the usual conditions of the general labour market.
The workshop’s task is to prepare the disabled persons for the transition to the general labour market (if there is any possibility to do so), to develop their personality and – in most cases – to offer them a permanent possibility of working.
Workshops need to be economically active in order to be able to pay any remuneration. In this regard, they are usual market participants and thus exposed to the ups and downs of the market.
2009 was economically a difficult year. Especially car manufacturer suffered significant losses. Therefore, workshops working for these companies were affected by high decrease of orders. Consequently, the remuneration payment began to decline. It is assumed that payment fell by 10% to 20% throughout the country. In some regions, the decrease was even higher. Workshops that are active in the service sector (laundry, catering etc.) registered lower losses.
Though persons working in workshops cannot be dismissed because their status is not that of employees but of persons to be rehabilitated, their estimated average remuneration sank by 15%. However, there are regional differences all over the country that do not correspond to the classical east-west differences. Some workshops reported that the turnover with particular customers fell by up to 80%.
Altogether, 2009 was a difficult year. We hope for an economic recovery in 2010 that will revive the economic activity of workshops, too. This is the only way for workshops to fulfil their task of rehabilitation.
