In seven years, unemployment due to bad weather has cost Luxembourg’s employment agency Adem €73m. Each year, on average, bad weather causing a temporary halt in activity costs €10m. But not all years are alike. The years 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2024 were particularly costly. These were years marked by severe bad weather. In 2017, at the end of the year, the country was hit by flooding due to heavy rain and melting snow. In June 2018, too, the country was hit by heavy rainfall on the German river Prüm, which had reached a hundred-year flood level. In 2021, torrential rain fell on 14 and 15 July, causing major flooding. In 2024, storms in June caused €24m of damage, which was compensated by insurers. It was also the hottest year on record in the country.

In 2024, 14,207 people benefited from the bad weather unemployment scheme. This scheme can be activated when a workplace is impracticable or when carrying out the activity is impossible or dangerous due to bad weather. “Any company in the building and civil engineering sectors and related craft industries whose normal activity takes place on building sites” can benefit from this scheme, as Adem states on its website. Unemployment then applies to all employees and apprentices whose place of work is in Luxembourg, as well as employees working at a place of work in regions bordering Luxembourg.

Each year, one sector of activity stands out for the highest number of applications. This same sector is described by specialists--like industry and agriculture--as one of the most at risk from the effects of climate change. It is the construction sector.

In 2024, for example, of the 1,628 requests made, 1,072 came from the construction sector. The second most popular sector was, unexpectedly, neither agriculture nor industry, but administrative and support services, with 249 applications.

Only 27 applications were received from the agricultural sector. It’s a much lower number, but this can be explained by the fact that the bad weather had a greater impact on yields than on the farmers’ work itself. In the industrial sector, there were also 27 claims.

For a company to benefit from the bad weather unemployment scheme, three conditions must be met. First, the company must be established in Luxembourg, hold an establishment permit and belong to the building and civil engineering sector, or related craft branches. Second, the employer making the request must be unable to second the staff concerned temporarily to other companies or sites. Finally, the employer must inform Adem no later than the working day following the day on which the unemployment occurred.

This article was originally published in .