cuts and a business review to cope with plunging profits postwar miracle the schmitts live north of the city of bamberg whose medieval and baroque architecture has been lovingly restored since the 1950s it is typical of the wellheeled cities that prospered during the economic miracle of germanys postwar reconstruction yet this region which heavily depends on combustion engine technology is facing a challenge that will have repercussions for germany as a whole were talking here about some 25000 jobs in the region thats roughly 15 of the overall workforce bamberg mayor andreas starke told reuters this shows how dependent the region is on combustion engines for the schmitts thomas works on the assembly line and kristin in the stockroom and their more than 850 colleagues at the michelin tire factory the chances of keeping their jobs are looking grim works council head josef morgenroth is trying to convince the management that the company cant pull out of an earlier agreement which ruled out forced layoffs until the end of 2022 the local michelin management declined to comment saying it was still in talks with the works council automobile crisis to help workers affected by the car industry disruption politicians companies and labour unions have called on the government to support the shift to alternative technologies such as electric cars or hydrogenpowered fuel cells in a rare joint statement automakers and unions said in january that berlin must expand statebacked employment schemes known as kurzarbeit to cover a longer pay subsidy period of up to 24 months as well as retraining in new skills such as building electric vehicle parts the german cabinet is expected to approve the more flexible kurzarbeit rules next month under the scheme companies can apply for state aid to avoid layoffs and keep skilled workers for a limited time of currently up to 12 months depending on agreements between company and works council employees work reduced hours or even stay at home with the government paying twothirds of the lost net income for the economy as a whole this means consumers have less money to spend eroding germanys most important pillar of economic support in recent years as exports falter that in turn could become an issue for the european central bank as it seeks to stimulate the wider euro zone economy with a limited arsenal research institute gfk expects german household spending to grow by 1 in 2020 down from roughly 15 last year even without the planned changes the number of employees already forced to work in kurzarbeit schemes jumped to 96000 in november up from about 20000 two years before and surpassing levels last seen during the euro zone debt crisis in 201213 according to the federal labour office projections suggest that the number will rise to 117000 this month with the increase mainly due to the problems in the car industry said detlef scheele head of the state agency pay cut vs job cut some auto suppliers have cut