BERLIN, (Reuters) – Coronavirus restrictions in the hospitality and retail sectors pushed up German employees who had to work fewer hours under job protection programs in December, according to the Ifo economic Institute on Wednesday.

According to Ifo’s monthly business sentiment survey, the number of Kurzarbeit workers, or short-term work, increased by almost a quarter, reaching 879,000, up from 712,000 in November.

Sebastian Link, an Ifo researcher said that the spike in coronavirus infections led to increased work hours in retail and hospitality sectors.

Short-term workers increased from 75,000 to 126,000 in hospitality to 53,000 to 23,000 retail.

It rose from 381,000 to 390,000. Manufacturing saw a rise in manufacturing.

The fourth coronavirus outbreak in Germany was triggered in part by the Delta variant. This led to restrictions on retailers and service companies in December.

Germany prohibited unvaccinated individuals from accessing non-essential facilities. Christmas was harmed by the so-called 2G rule. This allows only vaccinated and recovered persons to enter non-essential establishments. Retailers are also being affected by the Omicron variant’s rapid spread.

The Labour Office warned of an increase in COVID-19-related cases. It also imposed new restrictions on the spreading disease to reduce the uncertainty for the labour market.

More companies indicated that they would soon be able to furlough more of their workers as a sign this was happening.

Kurzarbeit employees dropped to 710,000 during October, which was the last month available with reliable data. It was sharply lower than the April 2020 peak of approximately 6 million.