1.3% of employees in the grand duchy had short-term work contracts in 2019, according to Eurostat, the EU statistics bureau.

The highest rates were recorded in Croatia (5.8%), France (5%), Spain (3.8%) and Belgium (3.6%), while the lowest proportions were found in Germany and Cyprus (both 0.3%) and the Czech Republic and Romania (both 0.2%). Across the entire EU, the figure was 2.3%.

A Eurostat report on 11 May stated:

“Among all economic activities, the wholesale, retail trade, transport, accommodation and food service activities sector represented the sharpest fluctuations in the number of employees who had precarious jobs, with an average increase of 30% from the second to the third quarter.”

While the use of temporary contracts in the grand duchy is certainly higher than a decade ago (0.9% in 2010), the proportion in 2019 (1.3%) was lower than in 2015 (1.7%) and has been roughly stable since then (1.2%-1.4%).

Share of people in precarious employment remained relatively stable over the past decade

This may change following the impact of #coronavirus restrictions with many businesses forced to cut employees’ hours, temporarily cease operations or to close

https://t.co/0D7txcpFvL pic.twitter.com/vWujwX4BoS

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) May 11, 2020

Eurostat defined “precarious employment” as “employment with a work contract that does not exceed three months’ duration” for workers aged 20-64.