© Pierre Weimerskirch
The Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy joined our colleagues on RTL Radio on Monday morning to discuss a potential rise in unemployment and reforms still to be made before the end of the legislative period.
Minister Engel compared Luxembourg's labour market to those abroad, saying that "the situation is much tighter in other countries, the Grand Duchy is doing rather well when it comes to work". However, he expects an increase in the number of applications for partial unemployment, which might in return push the unemployment rate from 4.8% to 5.2%.
Despite this relatively calm situation, the Minister has not forgotten about the reforms that have been planned for some time now. He does not accept some critics who say that his team has slowed down in its work: "During the Covid pandemic, the Ministry of Labour clearly had other priorities. But, our attention has again turned to the reforms, such as the collective agreement, of which we hope to sign more in the future."
A new study on the reduction of working hours is expected to be delivered in April. The Minister elaborated on measures that were already brought forward in this legislative period and which he says clearly went in the right direction, such as the introduction of a new public holiday or an additional day off.
Minister Engel thus expressed confidence that similar projects will be presented to the Chamber of Deputies before the general elections in October.
