As Luxembourg settles down following its second year in a pandemic, a 17.6% decrease in unemployment compared to December 2020 was noted, despite a slight increase last month in registrations with the agency. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the number of unemployed citizens had decreased steadily after reaching a 7% peak in June of 2020.

The downward trend was noticed on relatively equal parts for men (-18.1%) and  women (-17.2%). In terms of age groups, the over-45 group saw the slowest improvement (-13.1%) in comparison with the under 30s (-21.3%) and the 30-44 year olds (-20.7%).

Those who had completed higher education were also less likely to be unemployed in 2021, though they also witnessed the most significant decrease in unemployment (-18.9%) in comparison to those with secondary (-18.8%) or lower education (-17.6%) levels, though the disparity remained small.

Although in 2021, a 15.9% decrease (8,199 citizens) was noted over the year. People who remain jobless for more than 12 months are counted in this category.

Nearly twice as many jobs available in 2021

Meanwhile, 42,745 job openings were shared by employers over 2021, of which 3,258 were posted in December. In total, 10,221 jobs were declared in Luxembourg at the end of the year, an increase of 43.2% over one year. 10,452 were still open before the start of 2022, which represents a 59,2% increase over a year.

Of these, 85.6% were full-time contracts of an undetermined or determined length, while 10.1% were temporary positions and 4.3% were aids to employment such as training. IT study and development job postings were most likely to be sought by employers over the end of 2021, followed by business management and accounting roles.

Cleaners and secretaries completed the top 5 of the positions written out in December.