If there was any proof that the phenomenon of government-funded short-time working programs, known in German as Kurzarbeit, had become established at the center of German society, it had to be a call made by an ice hockey club in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The club had been eliminated before the play-offs, which translated into reduced revenues. The team's manager, who treats his club as an ordinary business enterprise, put in a call to Christian Rauch, an expert with Germany's Federal Employment Agency (BA). He asked Rauch whether his players would qualify for the short time work program, and whether the employment agency would pay their salaries under the scheme.
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