In November, 4,172 businesses filed an application for the short-time working scheme, an increase of 1,379 applications compared to the month prior, the committee said. 

In comparison, during the same period in 2019, when the covid-19 pandemic had not yet put a hold on the economy, only 25 short-time working applications were submitted.

So far, 3,809 of the aforementioned applications have been accepted, adding up to a total of 30,244 workers that will be partially unemployed in December (up from 22,075 the previous month).

Moreover, the application process has been extended until 4 December. 

During the meeting, the committee also adopted new terms and conditions for short-time working applications in the context of the restrictions in place until 31 December. These were subsequently endorsed by cabinet and enable businesses that have not yet submitted a request for short-time working for the month of November and/or December to: 

• apply between 27 November and 4 December for short-time working via a designated form available on MyGuichet.lu 
• benefit from a short-time working rate of 100% of the total number of hours unemployed during the closure. 

It was also specified that companies that had already submitted an application for short-time working for the months of November and December do not have to submit a new form but will automatically be entitled to the rate of 100%.