, Columnist
Next Painful Coronavirus Question Is About the Unemployed
Politicians face a daunting decision on ending furlough schemes. They should be ruthless about zombie companies but generous to the newly unemployed.
Protecting the workers.
Photographer: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images EuropeThis article is for subscribers only.
The pandemic has asked many difficult questions of Europe’s governments, from whether to close down schools to which companies to bail out.
As economies continue to open up, politicians face a new daunting choice: Should they leave their employment furlough schemes in place? These support programs have kept workers in their jobs (artificially) at a vast cost to the public coffers, but phasing them out risks creating mass unemployment.