Credit: MTEESS

As part of its latest OECD Skills Strategy project, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has issued a set of recommendations for Luxembourg to strengthen its skills systems. 

The OECD carried out the "OECD Skills Strategy Luxembourg" study in cooperation with a national team composed of representatives of Luxembourg's Ministry of Education, Children and Youth, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the ADEM employment agency. The study was funded by the Education and Labour Ministries with a contribution from the European Commission.

The OECD presented the study, in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of Education, Children and Youth and Minister of Higher Education and Research, Claude Meisch, and the Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Georges Engel, in Esch-Belval on Thursday 23 February 2023. Representatives of the European Commission, the Luxembourg Government and social partners were also present.

Launched on 9 June 2021, the study is part of "Skillsdësch", an initiative bringing together partners (the Education and Labour Ministries, companies and unions) since autumn 2020 to analyse skills needs, identify the most promising professional fields, and define a training action plan and implement it. According to the aforementioned ministries, the study was carried out using a participatory approach based on a series of meetings involving 160 players from the Luxembourg ecosystem.

OECD Skills Strategy Luxembourg confirmed that the Grand Duchy performs quite strongly in terms of skills in many areas, notably regarding the tertiary attainment level among young adults (one of the highest in the OECD) and a low unemployment rate. Nevertheless, skills challenges persist, such as "prevalent skills shortages" and low participation of the poorest people in adult education. The report also pointed out the challenges facing foreign talent looking to work and live in Luxembourg, notably "complex immigration procedures, high living costs and language barriers", and highlighted a lack of "sufficiently timely and reliable data on current and future skills needs".

Following its findings, the OECD has issued several recommendations adapted to the particular situation of Luxembourg. The main recommendations to strengthen Luxembourg's skills system relate to the following: providing labour-market-relevant adult learning opportunities in Luxembourg; guiding and incentivising skills choices in Luxembourg; attracting and retaining foreign talent to fill skills shortages in Luxembourg (notably regarding strengthened language training); strengthening the governance of skills data in Luxembourg.

According to Luxembourg's Education and Labour Ministries, the government intends to closely examine, assess and translate the following recommendation areas into concrete actions over the next few years: the creation of a continued vocational training offer that is adapted to the labour market; measures to promote reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning; talent attraction and retention; skills data governance.

Minister Meisch emphasised that "Luxembourg, like many other European countries, needs qualified people in order to ensure its long-term growth and to succeed in the energy, ecological and digital transitions. The OECD study, through its recommendations, shows avenues to explore in collaboration with the social partners in the short and medium term. These recommendations will be of great use to us in the years to come in developing measures around the offer of continued education, training incentives or improved orientation."

For his part, Minister Engel stressed the importance of a national skills strategy: "It is clear that the skills of people who are looking for a job do not always correspond to the requirements of employers. Strategies must therefore be developed that will enable us to better prepare jobseekers for the demands of today's labour market. In this exercise, the study presented today will certainly provide us with concrete avenues to follow."