On Monday 31 March 32025, Luxembourg Employment Development Agency (ADEM) published a new list of occupations in critical shortage in the Grand Duchy.
This list identifies the jobs (and their sub-titles) that are in high demand by recruiters and for which very few candidates are available through ADEM. There are now 22 occupations on this list, compared to 24 last year; employers seeking skilled labour in these 22 listed occupations can then benefit from simplified and accelerated procedures for hiring third-country nationals.
As required by law, the list is updated in the first quarter based on objective data from the previous year: the number of vacant positions declared to ADEM, the number of job seekers registered for the same occupation, and the number of declared positions for which no candidate matching the required profile could be found.
Compared to the previous year's list, new occupations have been added, notably in the mechanical field—industrial mechanical maintenance (I1310), aircraft maintenance (I1602), and bodywork repair (I1606), as well as management consultants (M1402) and rail network traffic officers (N4401). However, several professions are disappearing from the list: back- and middle-office management in financial markets (C1302), roofing installation and restoration (F1610), production management and engineering (H2502), installation and maintenance of industrial and operating equipment (I1304), psychology (K1104), human resources development (M1502), and information systems consulting and project management (M1806). Although these professions remain in short supply, the imbalance between candidates and positions in 2024 is no longer sufficient to meet the criteria for the "high shortage" category.
For the list of high shortage professions to best reflect the reality of the job market, employers are encouraged to declare all their vacancies to ADEM. This provides numerous benefits to support them in their recruitment of qualified candidates from third countries.
The application for a "foreign labour" certificate can be submitted by the employer directly when declaring the vacancy to ADEM, or subsequently, throughout the validity period of the offer. If the declared position corresponds to a profession on the list of professions with severe shortages, the certificate is issued within five business days of acknowledgment of receipt.
The list of professions with severe shortages is also used by ADEM to better analyse the qualifications and skills employers need and to organize targeted training for job seekers in the identified professions.
