© Didier Weber/RTL
At present, Luxembourg's economy is growing faster than its population, which is leading to staff shortages in several sectors.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, up to 265,000 new employees have to be recruited by 2030, out of whom 30% will likely cover entirely new posts.
The shortage of skilled workers also affects the banking sector. Karin Scholtes, staff manager at the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), says the bank has recently lost as many as 50 employees to the government. At the moment, Luxembourg's economy is growing faster than its population, she further notes:
"To keep our economy up and running, we have to go search for talents abroad because we have a demographic problem on the one hand, the baby boomers that are about to retire, and on the other hand a dynamic economy."
About 70% of the 436,607 people working in Luxembourg are not national citizens, which is why it is important to maintain the country's attractiveness and draw more qualified personnel to the Grand Duchy, further notes Scholtes: "We really have to sell Luxembourg to people who live outside of the greater region."
High costs of living, the housing crisis, and traffic are the most prevalent issues preventing people from moving to the Grand Duchy, says Sidonie Paris from the Chamber of Commerce: "So these are really factors that aggravate this situation. Particularly since Luxembourg is a small country, very open to the outside world and in need of this foreign workforce."
The Chamber of Commerce plans on tackling these issue with a series of reforms focused on education and further training.
In December 2022 a survey by job listing site Jobs.lu questioned which factors played a particular role for candidates when assessing a job offer. 950 users of the Jobs.lu platform were invited to participate in the survey, which looked to determine Luxembourg's attractiveness to future employees, as well as current recruitment practices and developments.
The salary still plays a deciding role in bringing workers to Luxembourg in the first place, but overlong commutes and the limits applied to working from home are seen as a negative factor and could very likely result in workers looking elsewhere for a job.
The reduction in working time, with the aim of a 36-hour week, is also a discussion that revolves around the attractiveness of the labour market in Luxembourg.
Georges Engel, Minister of Labour, recognised this and while he is 'not against' working time reduction, he is hoping for a discussion based on facts based on a new study that will be published in March. The current coalition agreement does not foresee such reduction.
