Credit: Statec

Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy has reported that the Comité de conjoncture (Economic Committee) met on Tuesday 22 August 2023, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Georges Engel.

During the meeting, the Economic Committee first analysed the labour market situation in July 2023 and the national economic situation. The Economic Committee then studied the forecast requests for partial unemployment for the month of September 2023. The number of requests submitted increased by 13 units compared to the previous month. In total, 88 companies submitted a provisional request for partial unemployment in order to be able to benefit from the provisions of this measure for next month.

After analysing the files submitted, the Economic Committee ruled favourably on 77 requests. Of these requests, 54 are from a temporary source, 16 are from a structural source, i.e. they are linked to a job retention plan, and 7 requests are motivated by a link of economic dependence. These requests estimate the number of employees concerned at 9,872 full-time equivalent jobs (FTE) against 8,026 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 now also provides information on the number of employees who have actually benefited from the measure (in previous months). This assessment can be done 3 months after the provisional requests made upstream. Once a forecast request has been granted, companies have two months to introduce a count of the hours actually not worked with ADEM.

Concerning therefore, the requests for partial unemployment for the month of May 2023, advised during the April 2023 committee, out of the 82 provisional requests advised favourably, 55 of them have actually resorted to partial unemployment, of which 5 files are to be currently still under investigation; therefore bringing the number of cases paid to 50.

In total, of these 50 counts, out of 8,713 forecast full-time-equivalents (FTEs) announced, currently 2,668 employees, compared to 2,249 in April 2023, have actually been unemployed, representing a workforce of 690 (FTE).

The actual declared non-working hours for the month of May 2023 amounted to 119,420, compared to 96,239 hours the previous month (April 2023).

The cost for the employment fund for the month of May 2023 amounts to €2,280,000, compared to €1,933,000 for April 2023.

In addition, the Economic Committee gave a favourable opinion on one job retention plan and an unfavourable opinion on one recovery plan.

The Economic Committee issued one positive opinion in relation to the legal provisions in terms of early retirement-adjustment concerning a total of 12 employees. The Committee proposed a rate of participation in the cost of early retirement.

Finally, the Economic Committee also issued positive opinions following two requests for tax exemption of voluntary severance pay, pursuant to article 115 (10) L.I.R. and concern a total of 132 people