Luxembourg Unemployment Rate Reaches 6.5% in September

On Tuesday 20 October 2026, Luxembourg's national employment agency ADEM published its latest labour market figures, reporting an unemployment rate of 6.5% in September 2026.

The number of jobseekers registered with ADEM, residing in Luxembourg and available for work, reached 20,269 as of Wednesday 30 September 2026, representing an increase of 7.1% year-on-year, or 1,349 more people than at the end of September 2025. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was calculated by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC).

The number of highly qualified jobseekers continued to rise sharply, although the pace of growth slowed to 10.6% year-on-year, compared with 19% recorded in August 2026. An analysis by age group also showed that people aged sixteen to 29 were the most affected by the increase in jobseeker numbers (+10.7% year-on-year), while those aged 45 to 64 experienced a slightly smaller rise of 7.6%.

In terms of occupations sought by jobseekers, increases continued in information technology, industrial cleaning, secretarial and administrative support, banking, culinary production, daily living assistance, accounting and management, and legal professions. Demand for jobs also increased in warehousing, goods handling and removals, as well as in nature conservation and green space maintenance.

In September 2026, ADEM recorded 3,430 new registrations from resident jobseekers, unchanged from September 2025.

At the end of September 2026, 9,583 residents were receiving full unemployment benefits. A further 1,607 resident jobseekers were undergoing external professional redeployment or receiving a waiting allowance (indemnité d'attente - IA) or professional waiting allowance (indemnité professionnelle d'attente - IPA).

Meanwhile, 4,418 Luxembourg residents were participating in employment support measures, representing an increase of 1.2% compared with September 2025.

Furthermore, a total of 1,121 non-resident jobseekers registered with ADEM in September 2026, an increase of 19.5% year-on-year. This brought the total number of registered non-resident jobseekers to 4,383 at the end of the month.

Although this increase remained significant, its pace slowed to 22.7% year-on-year, compared with 30.5% recorded in August 2026, noted ADEM.

Among these registered non-residents, 2,466 had external professional redeployment status and were therefore eligible for financial assistance from ADEM under the same conditions as residents. For this category, annual growth continued to slow, reaching 7.5%, compared with 8.5% in August 2026.

The remaining non-resident jobseekers registered voluntarily and were not eligible for financial assistance. As of 30 September 2026, they numbered 1,917, representing a year-on-year increase of 49.8%.

In September, 999 non-resident jobseekers with external professional redeployment status received full unemployment benefits, while a further 1,911 received either a waiting allowance or a professional waiting allowance.

Employers reported 3,300 new job vacancies to ADEM in September 2026, representing a slight decrease of 1.5% compared with the same month in 2025.

At the end of September 2026, 6,632 vacancies remained available, a figure broadly unchanged year-on-year.

The occupations recording the strongest annual increases in job vacancies included paramedical care, social, educational and cultural services, information and telecommunications systems, food retail and food-related trades, and daily living assistance.