[sebazzz]

Those companies that fire people, do they also file for support money from the government? If that is the case, is that fair? Thinking from the perspective of a country which has actually good worker protection, so not as many people get fired and companies get support in paying their workers.

[user5994461]

Speaking from a country that may have one of the best worker protection (France) in the world, it's all smokes and mirrors. If your small-medium business is in trouble, the only sane thing to do for your employees is to layoff as quickly as possible, so they can register to unemployment benefits (and count in statistics).

You think any government is going to give you money as a business owner? Maybe if you're lucky but how much time and paperwork is it gonna take? You're not guaranteed to see any of it or when. Meanwhile, you're accruing significant debt from each employees and suppliers day over day, with no end in sight.

[jlaurend]

The legislation being enacted's main goal is to keep people employed. The PPP (payment protection plan) is directed at small businesses (< 500 employees) and can be forgiven if it's used toward payroll, rent, etc. In order for the loan to be forgiven, in the 8 weeks following taking the loan out, your employee headcount "cannot decline from average monthly levels during 2019 or during the past 12 months" [1]

Now, the larger company / industry bailouts -- those seem less well-defined. I haven't seen the latest on those but I'm sure the government would _like_ to tie them to employment as much as possible but we'll have to wait to see.

[1] https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/paycheck-protection...