Labor market in Luxembourg

Administration de l'emploi, Luxembourg, Rue Bender

The labor market in Luxembourg is where the supply of employment in Luxembourg and the demand for jobs by residents and foreigners meet.

Segmented labor market

As part of the Lisbon strategy, the Luxembourg Tripartite commissioned the French economist Lionel Fontagné to write a report on the competitiveness of the Luxembourg economy. According to this so-called "Fontagné Report", the Luxembourg labor market is state-regulated and segmented. It is made up of three segments:

1. the Luxembourgers,
2. the resident foreigners,
3. the frontier workers .

The expansion of the service sector , particularly financial services and media-related companies, has increased the overrepresentation of immigrants at the two extremes of the training spectrum: on the one hand in the low-skilled jobs, particularly manual labor, and in the high-skilled jobs. This reproduces the phenomenon that could already be observed during the industrial development of the country: the first waves of immigration of unskilled workers came from Italy , while numerous skilled workers and employers had come from Germany , Belgium and France .

In contrast, Luxembourgers are employed in middle management and mainly occupy administrative positions in the public sector . The exception is the health sector , where the public service comprises a large number of immigrant workers. All sectors in which there is a disproportionate number of Luxembourgers belong to the public service. The preponderance of Luxembourgers in the civil service is explained by the criteria of recruitment, which would not attract Luxembourg residents enough if the salaries offered were not higher.

Overall, more than 40% of those employed with Luxembourg nationality are employed by the state or similar institutions, while they are underrepresented in the hotel and catering industry , building construction and civil engineering , real estate and household services - these are also the sectors where earnings are relatively low is.

The level of education of the residents is lower in terms of the demands of the labor market and compared to those of the cross-border commuters: there are proportionally more workers who have a primary or lower secondary qualification among the population as a whole (25% compared to 13% in the population as a whole) Cross-border commuters), fewer employed people with a higher secondary qualification (46% versus 54%), and a little less with a higher level. Today, 53% of cross-border commuters working in Luxembourg come from France, 27% from Belgium and 20% from Germany. Overall, Belgian cross-border commuters are more likely to have a diploma than French or German cross-border commuters with a higher education level of 44% and 23% respectively. Finally, the French, Belgian and German workers who have settled in Luxembourg have a higher proportion of graduates than the cross-border workers.

For around 6,000 jobs (not including international institutions based in Luxembourg) that were newly created between March 2002 and March 2003, 4,000 were filled with cross-border commuters and fewer than 200 with Luxembourg residents. The latter are thus massively absent as far as the dynamics of the labor market are concerned.

From 1985 to 2001 this dynamic was at a high level: The Grand Duchy had created 117,000 jobs, most of them occupied by cross-border commuters. While domestic employment rose from 160,000 to 277,000, national employment increased from 152,000 to 188,000. After resident Luxembourgers represented 94% of domestic employment in 1985, they only filled 32% of the newly created posts, bringing their share down to 68% of domestic employment. In the second half of the 2000s this tendency continued in an increasingly difficult labor market.

So these last few years, when the unemployment rate was quite low, growth has relied heavily on the foreign workforce, with fears that this reservoir may be depleted within the region. If this region is understood as the Greater Region with more than 11 million inhabitants and a number of unemployed people that will exceed the expected increase in employment in Luxembourg over the course of several decades, this fear would be unfounded (OECD, 2003). Meanwhile, the level of skills demanded in the labor market could be the real bottleneck. The search for talent is therefore likely to develop on an increasingly global basis.

Access to the labor market

Free movement applies to citizens of an EU member state . Different regulations apply to visitors and jobseekers from third countries.

Luxembourg was sentenced in 2008 by the European Court of Justice to amend its law on posting of workers; this basically provides for the application of national labor law to employees posted to Luxembourg. The trade union OGBL , on the other hand, demands that the relevant European Posting Directive be amended, as it promotes social dumping .

In contrast to the previous regulation, a new law is intended to open the public service to all applicants who are citizens of the European Union and who meet the special qualification and language requirements. A limitation to Luxembourg nationality is then only permitted in certain exceptional cases.

The Diploma Recognition Department in the Ministry of Education ( Service de la reconnaissance des diplômes des Ministère de l'Éducation nationale et de la Formation professionnelle - MENFP) is responsible for the recognition of diplomas obtained outside Luxembourg .

According to the law, employers are obliged to report every vacancy to the ADEM ( Administration de l'emploi ) employment service . According to a study by CEPS / INSTEAD , however, only 40% of vacancies are reported. Only in half of all cases do companies show interest in receiving job applicants from ADEM.

In 2009 only 188,300 of the 335,700 people employed in the country lived in the country itself, the remaining 147,400 outside the country ( cross-border commuters ). In this respect, the officially announced unemployment rate , which, as everywhere in official statistics, is usually only related to the resident population, must be put into perspective accordingly.

In implementation of the European Regulation No. 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems in the European Union, from May 2010 the State of Luxembourg must reimburse the unemployment benefit institution responsible for the place of residence of the employee the total amount of compensation that a cross-border commuter who worked in Luxembourg has been employed in his home country during the first 3 months of his unemployment. The trade union OGBL, on the other hand, calls on the State of Luxembourg to keep cross-border workers who have lost their jobs in Luxembourg as part of a mass layoff, if possible in Luxembourg with the status of employee and to benefit from further training offers or other measures instead of allowing them to be unemployed as part of theirs To deport residential land.

Social, labor and tax law for employees in Luxembourg

General

The relevant provisions of labor law have been combined to form the Code du Travail , which has been in force since September 1, 2006.

An open-ended contract (CDI = contrat à durée indeterminée ) is the statutory standard employment relationship. In 2004, 89% of employees were in such a contractual relationship, and only 8% in a fixed-term contract (CDD = contrat à durée determinée ). A fixed-term contract may only be concluded for justified exceptional cases and, like a trial contract, must be expressly agreed.

In Luxembourg there is a statutory minimum wage that varies depending on the age and qualifications of the employee.

By law, wages and salaries must be regularly adjusted to the development of the price level. Statec creates the necessary statistical basis for this and determines the due date accordingly. The feasibility of this law was most recently "modulated" by the legislature, i. H. postponed.

With very few exceptions, every employee and independently employed person is to be registered for social security, with which they receive a social security card with their individual social security number. From January 1, 2009 the uniform statute applies; this means that, apart from transitional regulations, the distinction between blue-collar and white-collar workers has been abolished in social law and labor law.

In the case of dependent employees, it is primarily the employer ( patron ) who is responsible for registering them with social security and the tax office for the purpose of issuing an income tax card. The Bureau d'imposition Luxembourg Y is responsible for an annual wage tax adjustment for German and French cross-border commuters or non-residents . If allowances are claimed for child support, delays or disadvantages occur, as the certificates from the country of residence must first be submitted and recognized by the similar institutions in the country of employment.

Naturally, the proportion of illegal work can only be estimated. Statec's statisticians estimate the share in the construction industry at around 15% of total sales, but believe that the reduction in the VAT rate to 3% in this area has reduced the incentive to do so; because the customer of undeclared work also loses the legally guaranteed warranty claim.

Collective agreements

CEFOS Remich

Collective employment contracts ( Conventions collectives de travail ) can be concluded between one or more qualified unions and one or more companies. A distinction is to be made between the usual collective agreements and those that are declared to be generally binding in the Grand-Ducal Regulations, which are officially announced in the Mémorial ( conventions collectives déclarées d'obligation générale ).

The collective agreement for the transport and logistics sector was concluded on February 1, 2010 by the trade unions OGBL and LCGB with the transport association. It comes into force on February 1, 2010 and is applicable to all commercial road haulage companies, moving companies, express and courier services and logistics companies. More than 10,000 employees are affected. The new collective agreement has also been adapted to the applicable European and national legislation. Otherwise, it essentially includes an extension of the previous contract.

In the CEFOS in Remich , courses in labor and social law are offered by the trade unions and the École Supérieure du Travail for employees in Luxembourg, but especially for their staff representatives .

temporary work

Most (1999: 17) temporary employment agencies are members of the Union Luxembourgeoise des Entreprises de Travail Intérimaire Asbl, which was founded in 1994. Anyone wishing to receive an offer of employment can register with such a company. As soon as the temporary employment company has adequate personnel requirements from a customer company, a corresponding employment contract ( contrat de mission ) can be concluded. There is also a generally binding collective agreement for this sector. In principle, the temporary worker must be remunerated according to the same criteria as a permanent employee according to the respective job. If the customer company wishes to conclude a contract directly with the temporary worker, the temporary employment agency is legally obliged to approve it.

Web links

• Bulletins de l'emploi. Monthly reports from the ADEM ( Administration de l'emploi ) labor market situation (French).
• Information sheets on labor law. On the ITM ( Inspection du travail et des mines )website.
• Les relations collectives de travail. (Collective agreement law), Chamber of Labor u. Chamber of Employees, November 2004. (French).
• Conventions collectives de travail. (Collective agreements, generally binding and others). On the ITM ( Inspection du travail et des mines )website. (French).
• Base de données des accords collectifs des entreprises de la Province du Luxembourg belge, de la Région Lorraine et du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. Database on collective agreements in Luxembourg, Lorraine and the Belgian province of Luxembourg.
• Recueil de législation concernant le personnel des communes. Legislation on Community Workers , FNCTTFEL (French).
• Dictionnaire des fonctions. (Dictionary of job titles, French / Luxembourg / German), Minister of Equal Opportunities (MEGA).
• Travailler au Luxembourg. Instructions for use for future cross-border commuters. Target group: Belgian school leavers. (French).

literature

• Christian Wille (Ed.): Realities of life and political constructions in border regions. The example of the greater SaarLorLux region. Economy - politics - everyday life - culture . Bielefeld, transcript, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8376-2927-9 .
• Lionel Fontagné: Compétitivité du Luxembourg: une paille dans l'acier. Report pour le Ministère de l'Economie et du Commerce extérieur du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. . (pdf; French; 1.4 MB).
• Fernand Fehlen: Cross-border spatial mobility as a questioning of upward social mobility - considerations on the development of a supranational labor market in Luxembourg. (PDF; 94 kB)
• Christian Wille: Cross-border commuters in the Greater Region 1998-2008 . In: Digital Atlas of the Greater Region. Interdisciplinary online project of the research unit IPSE at the University of Luxembourg , 2010.
• Isabelle Pigeron-Piroth: Le secteur public. Economics and statistics. Working Papers du Statec. N ° 34/2009. December 2009 (pdf; French).
• Labor law - the practical application of labor law. Chambre des Salariés. November 2009.
• Code you travail. (Labor Law Code, Ministère du Travail et de l'Emploi ). (pdf, 253 pages, French, status: 2008; 2.9 MB).
• Christian Wille: familiar strangers. Representations and status of cross-border commuters in Luxembourg. In: Interculture Journal. Journal for Intercultural Studies. Vol. 10 (2011), Issue 13, pp. 101-114.
• Wille, Christian / de Bres, Julia / Franziskus, Anne: Intercultural working environments in Luxembourg. Multilingualism and cultural diversity in the workplace of cross-border commuters. In: Interculture Journal. Journal for Intercultural Studies. No. 17, 2012, pp. 73-91.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For the exact modalities of a longer stay, see the brochure: "Bienvenue aux citoyens de l'Union européenne & à leur famille" ( Memento of the original of 23 November 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB) 
2. ↑ Information under Association de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés asbl. ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ The judgment of the European Court of Justice against Luxembourg in the matter of the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive: Effects on Luxembourg law and social Europe. ( Memento of the original from July 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Ministry of Labor and Employment Luxembourg, 8 July 2008. 
4. ↑ Posting of workers. ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ OGBL demands maximum posting time. OGBL press release, January 28, 2010.
6. ↑ Dani Schumacher: A clean affair.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Luxemburger Wort , December 17, 2009. 8:05 am.  
7. ^ Department for Diploma Recognition. ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. / Le Luxembourg et la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie signent une déclaration commune: Un important pas en avant dans la reconnaissance d'équivalences des diplômes. Lëtzebuerger Journal  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [uid] = 9813 & type = 98, April 2nd, 2010.    
8. ↑ Espace "Employeur"> Déclaration d'une offre d'emploi. ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Mireille Zanardelli, Jacques Brosius: Les recrutements au Luxembourg. CEPS / INSTEAD, 2009, Population & Emploi n ° 41, 8 pages.
10. ↑ (vb), Many companies do not report vacancies. ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Luxemburger Wort , December 22, 2009. 4:16 pm. 
11. ↑ Emploi salarié résidants et non-résidants par mois 2008–2009 . (Excel, 97 kB) Le Portail des Statistiques du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, accessed on December 11, 2009 (French). 
12. ↑ Emploi et taux de chômage par mois 2000 - 2009. Le Portail des Statistiques du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, accessed on December 11, 2009 (French). 
13. ↑ Unemployment among cross-border commuters: “The situation on the labor market is worse than the official figures show!” (No longer available online.) LCGB, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 17, 2009 (German).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
14. ↑ Reimbursement of unemployment benefits to the country of origin. OGBL press release, November 25, 2009.
15. ↑ Legislation - Code du travail. ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French) / Jean-Luc Putz: Luxembourg labor law. promoculture, 1st edition 2006.  
16. ↑ Rédiger un contrat à durée indéterminée. ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
17. ↑ Philippe Liégois: Les contrats of salariés sont à durée essential element indéterminée. CEPS / INSTEAD , Publications of Population & Emploi, 2006, Vivre au Luxembourg n ° 28.
18. ↑ The contract on probation.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ Rédiger un contrat à durée déterminée. ( Memento of the original from February 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
20. ↑ The statutory minimum wage.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (from March 1, 2009).  
21. ↑ Statec - Official Statistics.
22. ↑ Stop the loss of purchasing power! ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ^ Social security in Luxembourg. ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
24. ↑ Social Insurance Center
25. ↑ Uniform Statute . ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
26. ↑ Le salarié non resident face à la fiche de retenue d'impôt. ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
27. ↑ Application for annual income tax adjustment. ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
28. ^ Bureau d'imposition Luxembourg Y.
29. ↑ Discrimination against cross-border commuters in terms of tax class?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Announced by the OGBL on February 8, 2010.  
30. ↑ Tom Wenandy: Undeclared work: A phenomenon that is difficult to quantify.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Day sheet. Fir Lëtzebuerg newspaper , February 19, 2010.  
31. ↑ Conventions collectives de travail. ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)  
32. ↑ Mémorial (legilux.lu).
33. ^ The generally binding collective agreements. ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)  
34. ↑ Commercial road freight transport and logistics sector: collective agreement signed. OGBL communiqué, February 2, 2010.
35. ^ Center de Formation et de Séminaires
36. ↑ shed the diplômes et certificats aux participants of cours du soir organisés par l'École supérieure du travail. ( Memento of the original from November 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
37. ↑ ULEDI list of member companies ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
38. ↑ Declaration of general validity of the collective agreement for temporary workers. ( Memento of the original of February 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 121 kB)