60 Companies Granted Partial Unemployment for May 2025

Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy has reported that the Economic Committee (Comité de Conjoncture) met on Tuesday 22 April 2025, under the chairmanship of Luxembourg’s Minister of Labour, Georges Mischo.

During the meeting, the Economic Committee first analysed the national economic situation and that of the labour market situation for March 2025. The Economic Committee then studied the projected applications for partial unemployment (short-time working) for May 2025. The number of applications decreased by five compared to the previous month. A total of 60 companies submitted a provisional request for partial unemployment. The final decision on the allocation of this support rests with the Government Council (Cabinet).

After analysing the submitted applications, the Economic Committee ruled favourably on 52 requests. Among these requests, 39 were related to cyclical factors, nine were related to structural factors, (meaning they were linked to a job retention plan) and four requests were motivated by an economic dependency relationship. The number of employees concerned amounted to 5,233 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, compared to 5,923 the previous month.

The ministry stressed that these figures are indicative and concerned the forecasted number of affected employees. They therefore do not represent a concrete indicator of the economic situation. As such, the Economic Committee also provided information on the number of employees who have benefited from the measure. This assessment can be carried out three months after the preliminary forecast requests were made. Once a provisional request has been approved, companies have two months to submit a statement of actual hours worked to ADEM employment agency.

Concerning the requests for partial unemployment for the month of January 2025, approved at the December 2024 committee meeting: of the 74 provisional requests approved, 51 actually used partial unemployment. Four applications are currently still being processed, bringing the number of approved applications to 47.

Of these 47 cases, out of 3,964 beneficiaries, announced provisionally for January 2025, 1,956 employees were unemployed, compared to 2,711 employees the previous month. In terms of FTEs, 358 FTEs were actually unemployed, compared to 458 FTEs the previous month.

The actual hours of unemployment reported for January 2025 amounted to 61,994, compared to 79,152 the previous month.

The cost to the Employment Fund for January 2025 was €1,247,444, compared to €1,543,379 for December 2024.

Moreover, the Economic Committee issued a positive opinion on three requests for tax exemptions for severance and redundancy payments, concerning a total of 78 people.

The Economic Committee also provided an update on the "Liberty Steel" case.

The next meeting of the Economic Committee will take place on Tuesday 20 May 2025.