It is estimated that 239,030 people, residents and cross-border commuters, theoretically have a job suitable to teleworking in Luxembourg. (Photo: EU)

It is estimated that 239,030 people, residents and cross-border commuters, theoretically have a job suitable to teleworking in Luxembourg. (Photo: EU)

The government recommends teleworking whenever possible. But in reality, this practice only concerns one employee out of two.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (DP) and Health Minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) have invited private sector companies to make greater use of teleworking in order to curb the new wave the pandemic. In the civil service, the decision had already been taken to increase teleworking from three to four days a week.

But how many people in Luxembourg can work from home?

According to the European Commission's research centre and its study “Teleworkability and the COVID-19 crisis: a new digital divide?” 54% of Luxembourg residents have a job suited to teleworking, With a national employment of 284,963 resident employees on 31 October 2021, we can therefore conclude that 153,880 active residents can technically and theoretically be called upon to telework fairly quickly.

Cross-border workers, a complex data

But beware, because this European study--like the Statec figures--does not take into account cross-border commuters, who can also hold teleworkable jobs. However, there are no figures on the teleworking potential of cross-border commuters. “The exercise would be very interesting to do,” agrees Vincent Hein, an economist at the Idea Foundation, which works regularly on the subject.

“Border workers are over-represented in certain sectors where the potential for teleworking is low, such as industry, commerce or construction. These sectors represent a relatively 'modest' share of total employment, compared to finance, certain administrative services and ICT, where they represent about one in two employees, or even more, and which have a high potential for teleworking”, says Hein.

“If we assume that cross-border commuters work in occupations similar to the European average within the various sectors of activity, around 41% of their jobs would be potentially eligible for teleworking. However, this figure should be taken with a certain amount of hindsight, because if the same assumption were made for residents, between 46% and 49% of jobs would be teleworkable, not 54%. So we can't use the 41% figure to compare it to 54%.”

“In conclusion, it is therefore likely that the technical teleworkability potential of cross-border commuters is lower than that of residents, but it would not be surprising if it were still significant”, says the economist.

With 153,880 resident workers (54% of the total resident workforce) in teleworkable jobs, and 85,150 teleworkable jobs held by cross-border commuters (41% of the 207,500 cross-border commuters as of 31 March, according to the IGSS), it can be estimated that 239,030 resident and cross-border commuters are theoretically in teleworkable jobs in Luxembourg “This is an extrapolation. But we are probably not too far from reality,” commented Hein on this estimate.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.