ADEM, Luxembourg's employment agency, has announced that, overall, the number of job-seekers in the Grand Duchy has increaseb by 26.1% over one year: the number of available resident job-seekers registered with ADEM stood at 19,762 as of 31 July 2020.

Over one year, this represents an increase of 4,094 people, or 26.1%. Compared to the previous month, however, there was a very slight decrease (114 people, or 0.6%); the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, calculated by STATEC, stands at 6.6%. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate had been stable at just under 5.5% and rose sharply to almost 7% in March-May.

This increase in unemployment observed during the month of July is mainly due to a decline in exits to employment, rather than an increase in new registrations (of newly-employed people). During July 2020, ADEM opened a total of 2,228 new files for resident job-seekers, a decrease of 14.4% compared to July 2019. At the same time, the number of file closings fell from 2,360 in July 2019 to 2,146 in July 2020 - while this decrease is still effective a year apart, it is however much less significant in July than in previous months (of 2020).

The number of resident job seekers receiving full unemployment benefit in July increased by 2,508 or 33.6% year-on-year and is just below the 10,000 person mark. Compared to the previous month, this number fell by 273 people, a decrease of 2.7%.

The number of beneficiaries of an employment measure (e.g. partial employment benefit) decreased by 83 people or 2.1% compared to July 2019.

During the month of July 2020, employers declared 2,899 vacant positions to ADEM, which corresponds to a decrease of 26% compared to July 2019. Compared to the previous month, the number of declared positions decreased by 104, or 3.5%.