Economy recovers, health worries: What real time indicators say #8

As we saw last week , the indicators of economic recovery in Europe are clearly increasing. Economic activity, as shown by Googl e mobility indices, is recovering . This is also consistent with the sharp decline in the number of new employees in short-time work since the end of containment . Activity indicators for industry and services further show some s trong improvement in Europe. On the other hand, the health situation remains a source of concern. New clusters have been observed in Italy, Portugal and Germany, leading to renewed fears about the risks of a second wave . This week, we are focusing on three indicators: The mobility indices in European countries show ing a gradual normalization , with growth of +4.4 points in Germany, -5.5 points in France, -13.4 points in Spain and -8 points in Italy, compared to the period before the lockdown . Short-time work in France , which has played a key role in supporting businesses. It involved nearly 14 million employees, 46% of whom were in S ME s. From 1 July, the rules of application will evolve with, among other things, the introduction of long-term short-time working scheme . Consumption of online media and entertainment platforms has declined sharply . The time spent watching TV returned to pre-crisis levels, while the audience of Twitch platform remained at a high level of more than 2 million instant viewers per day (compared to 1.4 million in 2019).