Sharjah24 – AFP: The Spanish government approved Tuesday an agreement with unions and business groups to extend its furlough scheme for workers affected by the coonavirus pandemic until the end of March.
The costly ERTE scheme, which was first introduced in April 2020 and has since been extended several times, had been due to end on February 28.
It provides furloughed workers with 70 percent of their base salary for the first six months, before dropping to 50 percent for the following months.
"The extension will occur automatically, and the companies and workers concerned will not have to take any steps," the government said in a statement.
The number of furloughed workers in Spain stands at about 104,000, down from a peak of 3.4 million in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Workers in sectors such as tourism and transportation have been particularly hard hit by lockdowns and travel restrictions.
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