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Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Labour have reported that the Economic Committee (Comité de Conjoncture) met on Monday 21 October 2024, under the chairmanship of the Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism, Lex Delles.
During its meeting, the Economic Committee first analysed the national economic situation and that of the labour market for the month of September 2024.
The Economic Committee then studied the forecast requests for partial unemployment (short-time work) for the month of November 2024. There were seventeen more requests submitted than the previous month. In total, 77 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 65 requests. Among these requests, 48 arose from a cyclical source, nine were linked to a structural source, i.e. a job retention plan, and eight requests were motivated by a link of economic dependence. The number of employees concerned amounts to 7,149 full-time equivalent jobs, compared to 6,019 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 July 2024, notified during the committee for the month of June 2024: out of the 89 forecast requests advised favourably, just 59 actually resorted to partial unemployment, of which five files remain under investigation - thus bringing the number of actual cases to 54.
Of these 54 cases, out of 2,647 beneficiaries forecast for the month of July 2024, 1,301 employees (compared to 1,446 in June) were actually unemployed. This represents 297 full-time equivalent jobs (compared to 329 the previous month). The actual unemployed hours declared for the month of July 2024 amounted to 51,336, compared to 56,853 in June 2024.
The cost for the Employment Fund for the month of July 2024 therefore amounted to €1,038,291, compared to €1,194,456 in June 2024.
Moreover, the Economic Committee approved one request in relation to the legal provisions on early retirement-adjustment, concerning a total of eight employees. The committee proposed a rate of participation in the cost of early retirement. The committee also issued a positive opinion following two requests for tax exemption of voluntary redundancy compensation (pursuant to Article 115 (10) L.I.R.), concerning a total of 26 people.
The next meeting of the Economic Committee will take place on Monday 25 November 2024.
