Publishing its 2018 results on Tuesday, employment development agency Adem reported that while the Luxembourg labour market grew by 3.8% in a year, over 30,000 jobseekers registered with them.
Adem credited this growth in part to the reform of the European system of unemployment benefit for cross-border workers. Under this reform, cross-border workers would be compensated in the country in which they contributed to social security, and not in which they reside. Benefits would be given to those who worked for at least six months uninterrupted.
The text was informally agreed but will continue to be worked on by the next European Parliament. However, the discussions in March clearly raised awareness among cross-border workers who increasingly, “wished to register with Adem during the last months of 2018. This increase in enrolment is still relevant and seems to persist over time,” Adem wrote in a press statement.
Another factor driving new registrations was the new legislation on jobseeker’s allowance, reshaping the RMG to become the Revis. To be eligible, applicants must be registered with Adem and actively looking for work. Although the reform only entered into force on 1 January 2019, jobseekers appeared to have prepared well in advance by registering with Adem.
Ease of access to Adem’s facilities could also have been another possible explanation for the increase in registrations. In 2018, the procedure was simplified so that applicants no longer need to physically attend one of the seven regional agencies to make an initial appointment--they can do this by phone or online.
“An increase in registrations at Adem does not mean the labour market is not in good health. Another indicator: the number of people finding work, confirms this. The number of jobseekers finding work increased in 2018,” Adem wrote in its report.
In 2018, some 16,760 jobseekers found work, the highest figure reported in the past five years. As a proportion of total jobseekers, the figure remains stable with a 55% reinsertion rate.
A year in numbers
Other key take-aways from the annual report were an increase in the proportion of jobseekers who found work in 2018, which rose 2.2% compared to 2017.
Some 4,300 jobseekers benefited from training offered via Adem, covering sectors such as construction, administration and IT.
And more than 300 workers from ten companies whose jobs are impacted by digitization of processes benefited from services under Luxembourg’s Digital Skills Bridge pilot scheme.
During the month of March 2019, Luxembourg unemployment was recorded at 5.4%, with the overall workforce increasing 3.8% over a year and the resident workforce rising 2.4%.