Total salaried employment has increased by 3% compared to last year, with noteworthy differences between cross-border workers on one hand (+4%) and residents on the other (+2%), but also between Luxembourgers (“only” +1%) and foreigners from an EU member state (+2.5%) and from non-EU countries (+8%).

Spectacular in themselves, those figures are, in fact, not that surprising.

But apart from these expected and corroborated evolutions, another fact has captured Idea’s attention. In the second quarter 2016, the number of foreign resident employees has surpassed the number of national resident employees. Luxembourgers have thus become the third peg of the private sector, behind foreign residents and cross-border workers.

Nothing startling about these developments, given the Grand Duchy’s atypical labor market. Yet, this overtaking is quite symbolic and should surely be called out.

Sarah Mellouet is an economist with Fondation Idea, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce’s thinktank. The original French version of this article can be found on the thinktank’s blog.