Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy has reported that the Economic Committee (Comité de Conjoncture) met on Monday 24 June 2024, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labour, Georges Mischo.
During its meeting, the Economic Committee first analysed the national economic situation and that of the labour market for the month of May 2024.
The Economic Committee then studied the forecast requests for partial unemployment for the month of July 2024. The number of requests submitted decreased by fifteen units compared to the previous month. In total, 98 companies submitted a provisional request for partial unemployment in order to benefit from the provisions of this measure for the month in question; the final decision on the allocation of this support rests with the Government Council (cabinet).
After analysing the submitted files, the Economic Committee ruled favourably on 86 requests. Among these requests, 72 arose from a cyclical source including 30 from the construction sector, nine were linked to a structural source, i.e. a job retention plan, and five requests were motivated by a link of economic dependence. The number of employees concerned amounts to 6,381 full-time equivalent jobs, compared to 6,460 the previous month.
The ministry stressed that these figures are indicative and concern the forecast number of impacted employees. They therefore do not represent a concrete indicator of the economic situation. Consequently, the Economic Committee also provides information on the number of employees who actually benefited from the measure. This assessment can be done three months after the forecast requests made upstream. Once a forecast request has been favourably notified, companies have two months to submit a count of actual non-working hours to the ADEM employment agency.
Concerning the requests for partial unemployment for the month of March 2024, notified during the committee for the month of February 2024: out of the 125 forecast requests advised favourably, just 69 actually resorted to partial unemployment, of which nine files remain under investigation - thus bringing the number of actual cases to 60.
Of these 60 cases, out of 3,400 beneficiaries forecast for the month of March 2024, 1,718 employees (compared to 1,999 in February 2024) were actually unemployed. This represents 387 full-time equivalent jobs (down from 397 the previous month). The actual unemployed hours declared for the month of March 2024 amounted to 67,016, compared to 68,603 in February 2024.
The cost for the Employment Fund for the month of March 2024 therefore amounted to €1,349,826, compared to €1,356,306 in February 2024.
Moreover, the Economic Committee approved three requests in relation to the legal provisions regarding early retirement-adjustment, concerning a total of 43 employees. The committee proposed a rate of participation in the cost of early retirement for each of the cases. The Economic Committee also issued positive opinions following three requests for tax exemption for voluntary redundancy compensation, concerning a total of 33 people.
The next meeting of the Economic Committee will take place on Monday 22 July 2024.
