With a general election less than six months away,the government coalition is at pains to prevent media headlines featuring rising unemployment. Among the action being taken is a government-funded short-time working hours scheme,where employers pay as little as a third of the net wage. The objective is to prevent people being laid off due to a temporary downturn in business. The program is now set to be expanded in Germany and also introduced elsewhere in Europe. We visit a mid-sized Berlin optical technology company to see the scheme in practice and ask whether the government is right to intervene in the labor market.