Credit: STATEC
The number of available resident jobseekers registered with the ADEM employment agency in Luxembourg has increased by 17.4% over one year.
As of 31 March 2020, the number of available resident jobseekers registered with the ADEM was 18,398 (up from 16,652 the previous month). Over one year, this represents an increase of 2,728 individuals, or 17.4%. This significant increase has been attributed in particular to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis.
During the month of March 2020, the ADEM looked at 3,142 new resident jobseekers' applications - an increase of 25.2% compared to March 2019. This increase occurred during the week of 16 March 2020, following the government's announcement of confinement measures. The influx has been attributed mainly to temporary construction workers, a sector that had been completely stopped until today, Monday 20 April 2020. During the week of 23 March, the number of applications fell to the level observed at the beginning of the month.
With the job market slowing, jobseekers are struggling to find a job. The ADEM, which can no longer physically accommodate each jobseeker at least once a month, has also had to adapt the monitoring of jobseekers. These new rules no longer ensure that jobseekers' records are kept as up-to-date as before the crisis; this particularly affects the closing of files. During March 2020, the number of files closed, for whatever reason, fell from 2,935 to 1,942.
The ADEM has recalled that employment measures are at a standstill. The number of beneficiaries of an employment measure stood at 4,148 as of 31 March 2020, a drop of 175 people over a year.
During the month of March, employers reported 2,412 vacancies to the ADEM, which corresponds to a decrease of 35.1% compared to March 2019. The majority of these positions (72%) were declared during the first half of March.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, as calculated by STATEC, stands at 6.1%.
