The Agence pour le Développement de l’Emploi (ADEM) today held its annual press conference on the agency's activities in 2014, as well as its new visual identity.

The Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Nicolas Schmit, spoke at the conference on the changes made to ADEM which he claimed have already borne fruit. He also reported on ADEM's close collaboration with employers, represented by the 'Entreprises, Partenaires pour l'Emploi' ('Business Partners for Employment') programme and the initial results from the 'Garantie pour la Jeunesse' (Youth Guarantee') initiative, which allows the majority of young people registered with ADEM to find a job or appropriate training according to their situation, or return to school after four months.

Isabelle Schlesser, Director of ADEM, reported that 2014 was a good year for employment, with 121,849 new staff hired between December 2013 and December 2014 and payroll increased by 2.5%. Contrarily, the unemployment rate reached 7.1% in 2014. However, the situation seems to have re-stabilised as the unemployment rate declined 0.1% in the last three months to 6.9% at the end of May 2015. ADEM identified 11,000 people registered as jobseekers with ADEM who worked three months after the closing of their case. Schlesser stated that "the aim is for 12,650 job seekers to be hired by Luxembourg companies a year, or 1,054 people on average per month".

The modernisation of ADEM through IT tools was cited as an important factor in ADEM's functioning, with ADEM Deputy Diretor Ian Tewes commenting on changes made to the job referencing system and the 'matching' tool made in 2014. This modernisation will be characterised by the launch of the job portal at the end of 2015 which will allow companis to view the profiles of job applicants, and job seekers to consult job openings offered by ADEM.

In 2014, the Agency also initiated customised courses for job seekers, based on individualised coaching and a mutual commitment between ADEM and the job seeker. After the initial programme in Wasserbillig in 2013, ADEM introduced the personalised programme in its Differdange and Dudelange agencies in November 2014 for its new registrants.

"In 2015, the deployment of customised courses will be conducted in all the ADEM agencies," promised Gaby Wagner, Deputy Director at ADEM. So far, about 10,000 people have been profiled whilst nearly 9,300 have signed a collaboration agreement concerning concrete steps for their professional integration.

2014 also represented the year of the 'Youth Guarantee' project, for people between the ages of 16 and 25. The aim of the project is for young people to benefit from a multidisciplinary framework created through fifteen specially-trained counsellors in order to better attend to young jobseekers. This 'Youth Guarantee' is present in three ADEM agencies: Luxembourg, Esch and Diekirch. 4,027 job seekers aged under 25 have reportedly registered for the programme since its launch, between late June 2014 and April 2015.

The training component in the personalised programme for job seekers was also a reason for the programme's growth. Over 250 training activities were organised in 2014, and the number of vocational training aids doubled in comparison to 2013.

ADEM was also rewarded by the HR community in Luxembourg in 2014, receiving the 'Best Public Partner' award. The new Service for employers is reportedly designed around the needs of businesses and finding appropriate positions for jobseekers, offering expertise and counsellor services as an appropriate response to each recruitment. In 2014 the number of reported vacant positions totalled 27,886 and involved 5,541 employers of which 1,965 were new employerds who had not declared vacancies to ADEM for at least three years. Between January and the end of May 2014, 14,104 positions were declared to ADEM.

The ADEM management also used the opportunity of the press conference to unveil its new visual identity, consisting of a new logo and graphic charter which will be distributed through all ADEM media.

 

Photo by ADEM (L-R: Gaby Wagner, Deputy Director of ADEM ; Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy ; Isabelle Schlesser, Director of ADEM ; Ian Tewes, Deputy Director of ADEM)