On Tuesday 25 August 2026, Luxembourg’s Economic Committee held a meeting to review the national economic situation and the labour market for July 2026.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism, Lex Delles, and the Minister of Labour, Marc Spautz.
According to Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy the committee then examined forecast requests for short-time working for September 2026. The number of requests submitted increased by one compared with the previous month. In total, 52 companies submitted a forecast request to benefit from the short-time working scheme for the month in question; the final decision on granting this support rests with the Government Council.
After analysing the submitted files, the committee issued a favourable opinion on 48 requests. Of these, 26 were due to cyclical factors, nine were structural in nature (linked to employment retention plans), eight concerned cases of force majeure due to insufficient water levels on the Rhine and other waterways, and five were justified by economic dependence. The number of employees concerned amounted to 1,508 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, compared with 2,855 the previous month.
According to the committee, these figures are indicative and relate to the forecast number of employees affected; they therefore do not represent a concrete indicator of the economic situation. The Committee also reports the number of employees who actually benefited from the measure.
With regard to short-time working requests for May 2026, approved at the April 2026 committee meeting, 31 of the 50 forecast requests that received a favourable opinion actually made use of the scheme. Five cases remain under review, bringing the number of settled cases to 26.
Of these 26 reports, out of 1,152 employees initially forecast to benefit from the measure in May, 686 employees actually took short-time working, compared with 894 the previous month. In terms of FTEs, 166 FTEs actually took short-time working, compared with 218 the previous month.
Companies declared 28,664 hours of short-time working for May 2026, compared with 32,720 the previous month.
The cost to the Employment Fund for May 2026 amounted to €593,127, compared with €712,613 in April 2026.
Furthermore, the committee issued a favourable opinion on two requests for tax exemption on redundancy and severance payments under Article 115 (10) LIR, concerning eleven employees.
