Europe's employment aid keeps jobs from vanishing -- for now

Christian Etchebest's Parisian bistro is a shadow of its usual bustling self. Five lunch specials sit in neat paper bags on the bar awaiting takeout customers — a tiny fraction of his normal midday business before the coronavirus.

A skeleton staff rotates in daily at La Cantine du Troquet near the banks of the Seine River, just blocks from the Eiffel Tower. One day they packaged a streamlined version of his Basque menu: sausages with a celery and beetroot remoulade, mashed potatoes and a dessert of strawberries with lemon sauce.

Yet Etchebest isn't facing bankruptcy — not yet anyway — thanks to a French government program that lets him put staff on reduced hours and makes up most of their lost salary, on the condition they are not fired. That support is giving him a chance to keep his trained team together, awaiting the day when restrictions are lifted and sit-down meals are again allowed at this restaurant and his six others across Paris.

FILE - In this Thursday, April 2, 2020 file photo, chairs are stacked behind a entrance door of a restaurant during a nationwide confinement to counter the coronavirus, in Paris. Programs across Europe are keeping hard-hit businesses afloat, preventing millions of workers from losing their jobs and income for now and thousands of bosses from seeing their trained staff scatter to the four winds. (AP PhotoMichel Euler, File)

Similar programs are keeping hard-hit businesses across Europe afloat, preventing millions of workers from losing their jobs and income for now, and thousands of bosses from seeing their trained staff scatter. Some 11.3 million workers in France are getting up to 84% of net salary. The government estimates the overall cost at 24 billion euros ($26 billion), with half of all private sector employees expected to take part.

Germany's economy ministry said 3 million workers are being supported, with the government paying up to 60% of their net salary if they are temporarily put on shorter or zero hours. Those with children get 67%, and many companies such as Volkswagen and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport add more.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the cushioning provided by such short-work programs will be underlined Thursday when new unemployment figures for the 19-country eurozone are released.

In this photo taken Tuesday, April 28, 2020 restaurant owner, Christian Etchebest, 50, left, and his chef Thierry Larallde, who is temporary unemployed, pose in the restaurant La Cantine du Troquet in Paris. Christian Etchebest's Parisian bistro is on life support. Five 22-euro lunch specials sit in neat paper bags on the zinc bar awaiting takeout customers, a tiny fraction of his normally bustling midday business before the coronavirus outbreak. (AP PhotoMasha Macpherson)

Such programs are different from jobless benefits. They are only for temporary shutdowns that are no fault of the business itself. And they are no panacea. Such programs can't save jobs that disappear due to long-term slowdowns in customer demand or to technological changes. But it gives workers and bosses breathing space and hope, preventing the unnecessary destruction of otherwise viable businesses.

“I will roll up my sleeves up and I will fight for all my restaurants,” Etchebest said. “For the majority of my staff to remain with me and so on. What else can I say? I can’t contemplate the contrary ... I will fight for it until the end.”

His chef, Thierry Lararralde, was weathering the crisis financially thanks to the support. “I can't say I'm struggling; my net salary is around 3,000 euros ($3,222 a month), I am making 700 euros ($750) less." He is making ends meet by spending less on gas and cooking at home: “It's cheaper, we adapt.”

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 29, 2020 file photo, a hearse passes under an electronic message sign reading "Stay at Home, Only Together We Can Control Corona", on the ring road in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Businesses across Europe, many with employees on temporary unemployment due to coronavirus restrictions, are waiting for government rules to ease before some can go back to work. (AP PhotoPeter Dejong, File)

The takeout crew pushed aside their masks to eat together, Etchebest slicing a rare roast beef on a wooden board for them.

Etchebest realizes the road ahead could be tough after they re-open with fewer tables due to social distancing requirements.

“I am fully aware we will have 40%, 50% less of business,” he said, adding that some employees with health risks may not return. “I think everyone needs to adapt their business model — financially and operationally."

FILE - In this photo taken on Friday, April 24, 2020, Femke Zimmerman, manager of Brasserie Berlage, a cafe and restaurant nestled in the manicured gardens of The Hague's historic art deco Kunstmuseum, poses for a portrait as she prepares the restaurant for reopening, in The Hague, Netherlands. Businesses across Europe, many with employees on temporary unemployment due to coronavirus restrictions, are waiting for government rules to ease before some can go back to work. (AP PhotoPeter Dejong)

Economist Holger Schaefer at the German Economic Institute in Cologne said short-work support gives employers more options than the stark choice of keeping people or firing them.

“I can say, ‘You come 70% of the hours, or 50% or 30%.' One doesn't have to say either all or nothing,” he said. “When the crisis is past and the demand for labor rises, then the business owner has exactly the right staff available right away and doesn't have to find new people.”

The support also bolsters a country's entire economy. “When someone is afraid that their job will be lost in the near future, that person limits their consumption, they don't buy a new car and spend less money, and that has in turn an effect on the macro-economy,” Schaefer said.

FILE - In this Sunday, April 26, 2020 file photo, Nursery S. Schouten created a message of support in times of the coronavirus reading "#StayStrong" by cutting of the flower heads in a field of tulips in Bant, Netherlands. Businesses across Europe, many with employees on temporary unemployment due to coronavirus restrictions, are waiting for government rules to ease before some can go back to work. (AP PhotoStef Hoffer, File)

Short-work schemes proved their value during the Great Recession in Germany, where 1.4 million workers took part. Encouraging companies to keep workers meant the unemployment rate barely budged even as the economy plummeted, rising from 7.3% in January 2009 to 7.5% in December that year even as the economy shrank a painful 5% percent. Growth then quickly rebounded.

It's the flip side of a European labor market, where worker protections are often blamed for deterring hiring in good times. It took seven years for unemployment to drop from a peak of just over 12% in 2013 in euro-currency countries to 7.3% in February, before the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis hit.

Femke Zimmermann, manager of Brasserie Berlage in The Hague in the Netherlands, has her eye on re-opening even as she spends most days at home looking after her 1-year-old and 5-year-old sons while the restaurant’s owners pay her with government help.

FILE - In this Friday, March 27, 2020 file photo, Chef Amandine Chaignot, left, receives payment from a customer after turning her restaurant into a shop to sell vegetables during the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, in Paris. Many restaurants in Europe have had to find alternate ways to stay in business, with many offering only takeout service or transforming their brick and mortar shops into small supermarkets. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori, File)

For now, she is not overly worried about losing her job. She stays in contact with her team and asked them to come in to give the restaurant a two-day spring clean.

“They hate sitting at home. They want to do something for the business,” she said.

Athens waiter George Sakkas, 26, is getting by on a Greek government program that lets businesses suspend workers' contracts and replaces their pay with a flat stipend of 800 euros ($870). Businesses that take the help cannot fire staff.

FILE - In this Friday, April 3, 2020 file photo, a note that reads in French: "Ghislain. I would like coronavirus to be eradicated so we can go back to normal" is left among others in a church during a partial lockdown against the spread of coronavirus in Brussels. (AP PhotoFrancisco Seco, File)

"The stipend definitely helped,” he said, noting the amount was roughly what he would make anyway.

“In the beginning we didn’t know about the stipend, so (the closing) hit us very badly,” he said. “When the stipend arrived it gave us some breathing space."

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 28, 2020 file photo, two skulls painted in a Union Flag are displayed in a window of a closed souvenir shop in London, as the lockdown continues due to the coronavirus. Businesses across Europe, many with employees on temporary unemployment due to coronavirus restrictions, are waiting for government rules to ease before some can go back to work. (AP PhotoAlberto Pezzali, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 17, 2020 file photo, a butcher wearing a mouth mask to protect against coronavirus, waits for customers at the Varvakios meat market in Athens. Due to lockdown measures taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 the market saw much less business during the holiday Easter period. (AP PhotoLefteris Pitarakis, File)

FILE - In this April 22, 2020, file photo, residents line up during a distribution to collect soap, vegetables, fruits and other staples distributed by volunteers in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb north of Paris. Open-air markets are closed, supermarket prices are skyrocketing and people are out of jobs. Putting food on the table is yet another challenge for the disenfranchised residents of France's housing projects, where the fallout of the national lockdown over the coronavirus is raising concerns about social unrest. (AP PhotoFrancois Mori, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, April 18, 2020 file photo, a pilot and crew members of South African Airways go through the security check in Frankfurt, Germany. Due to the coronavirus outbreak many flights have been cancelled and some airports have grounded their planes. (AP PhotoMichael Probst, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, March 22, 2020, a boy makes paintings on windows in a house in Antwerp, Belgium during a lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Employees in many European countries have had to adapt to working from home and the additional task of homeschooling their children as the lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus continues. (AP PhotoVirginia Mayo, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, people walk past the Leonardo da Vinci museum, temporary closed due to the COVID-19, coronavirus outbreak, in Venice. Venice, which was nearing recovery in the Carnival season following a tourist lull after record flooding in November, saw bookings drop immediately after regional officials canceled events due to restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (AP PhotoFrancisco Seco, File)

KAKAMEGA, Kenya (AP) — It’s match day in western Kenya’s Kakamega County, locally known as the home of bullfighting, where two bulls are brought to face off in a dusty arena as thousands cheer.

The derby is a rematch between a relative newcomer bull Shakahola, named after the forest where more than 400 people linked to a cult died in 2023, and another named Promise that has been a longtime favorite, only losing a few matches in over 10 years.

The bullfighting tradition is deeply rooted among the Luhya community in Kenya’s Kakamega County. It started as entertainment and celebrations after harvest season and has now evolved into a sport that attracts thousands of young people, some whom even place bets on social media platforms. During the matches, two bulls face off in under five minutes and after one escapes, the other is declared the winner. The bulls are not deliberately injured.

Sociologist Kathleen Anangwe, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, attributed the growing interest in bullfighting to the need for socialization and the high rate of unemployment, which is about 9% according to official statistics. At least one workers' rights group estimates unemployment is much higher for youth.

The sport is contributing to the economy, promoting unity and social solidarity, according to Anangwe. Through bullfighting, young people create an avenue to bond and use the matches to sell items such as snacks and bull chasing sticks.

“The youth are interested in identity, ‘who am I?’ and authenticity. Bullfighting gives them that opportunity,” Anangwe said.

Hours before the match, Shakahola the bull is given his daily dose of napier grass, water and a concoction of traditional herbs believed to make him stronger than his peers, according to the young man who has fed him for three years. He gets pampered inside a hidden shelter behind his owner's house, away from prying eyes before being transported by truck to the fighting arena.

His owner Josphat Milimo talks to the bull as part of a traditional ritual, encouraging him to take on his opponent in under five minutes. Elders declare a Shakahola win while pounding the ground with their sticks covered in traditional herbs.

Today’s match is a rematch after Shakahola lost to Promise about two years ago. His owner believes this is his chance to get payback and win the match.

As the bull leaves the shelter to be loaded onto a waiting truck under the warm morning sun, hundreds of people aboard motorcycles escort it as they ululate and wave their chasing sticks that keep the bulls away — part of the spectacle that begins outside the arena even before the match kicks off.

At the fighting arena, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, thousands wait anxiously as Shakahola and Promise arrive with pomp, escorted by fans carrying flags bearing their photos. Vendors circulate the stands, selling sticks and refreshments. The bulls are cheered on by their respective stick-waving fans.

Shortly after, the circles open and the bulls face each other head-on. They lock horns and tear up the ground. Dust swirls around them, clouding the view for those closer to the action.

Brenda Milimo, 20, the niece of Shakahola's owner, watches while cheering. She has become an TikTok sensation as a fan of bullfighting, and often travels from Nairobi to Kakamega via bus in a 4.5 hours journey just to attend major matches like this one.

“Bullfighting is in my blood,” she says.

In the past, she has placed bets of up to 1,500 Kenyan shillings ($11) despite being unemployed.

“We do casual betting via social media and through word-of-mouth, but I’m sure soon there will be a website for bullfighting betting because it’s becoming very popular among the youth,” she says.

For other spectators like David Gitau, who came from central Kenya, experiencing the bullfighting tradition is new.

“I’ve enjoyed myself and I’d like to encourage my kinsmen to come and experience this amazing tradition,” he says.

In about three minutes, the match is over as Promise runs out of the arena bearing blood marks on his hide.

It’s a win for Shakahola, and the crowd erupts into song and dance to the traditional drums while carrying his owner on their shoulders.

“I am very happy," Josphat Milimo says. “Last time, I was cheated of victory and this time round I was ready.”

Spectators attend a bullfighting match, in Kakamega, Kenya, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A crowd of spectators encircles a fighting bull during a bullfight in Kakamega, Kenya, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)