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On Monday 26 July 2023, the Economic Committee met under the chairmanship of the Luxembourg Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Georges Engel, to analyse the labour market situation for the month of June 2023 and the national economic situation.

The Economic Committee studied the forecast requests for partial unemployment for the month of June 2023. The number of requests submitted decreased by eighteen units compared to the previous month. A total of 75 companies have submitted a provisional request for partial unemployment in order to benefit from the provisions of this measure for the month of August 2023.

After analysing the files submitted, the Economic Committee approved 67 requests. Of these requests, 44 came from a temporary source, fifteen were linked to a structural source, i.e. a job retention plan, and eight requests were motivated by a link of economic dependence. These requests estimated the number of employees concerned at 8,026 full-time equivalent jobs (down from 9,366 the previous month).

These figures are indicative and relate to the projected number of employees affected, so they do not represent a concrete indicator of the economic situation. This is why the Economic Committee will now also provide information on the number of employees who have actually benefitted from the measure. This assessment can be done three months after the provisional requests made upstream. Once a forecast demand has been favourably advised, companies have two months to introduce a count of the hours actually not worked with ADEM.

Concerning short-time requests for the month of April 2023, advised during the February 2023 Economic Committee meeting, out of the 74 provisional requests advised favourably, 44 companies, in reality, resorted to partial unemployment, of which one file remains in progress, therefore bringing the number of cases paid to 43. In total, in these 43 counts, out of 3,873 forecast unemployed hours forecast, only 2,249 employees, compared to 1,840 in March 2023, were actually unemployed, representing a workforce of 556 (full-time equivalent).

The actual declared non-working hours for the month of April 2023 amounted to 96,239, compared to 82,813 hours the previous month (March 2023).

The cost for the employment fund for the month of April 2023 amounted to €1,933,000 compared to €1,551,200 for March 2023.

Additionally, the Economic Committee also approved one request following a request for a job retention plan and rejected one recovery plan. Then, the Economic Committee approved two legal provisions on early retirement-adjustment plans concerning a total of 28 employees. The Committee proposed a rate of participation in the cost of early retirement for each file.

Finally, the Economic Committee also approved five requests for tax exemption of voluntary severance pay, concerning a total of 70 people.

The next Economic Committee meeting will take place on Tuesday 22 August 2023.