The national unemployment rate has continued to rise and reached a new peak over the past two years. After climbing from 5.5% to 5.6% in October, the rate increased by another notch to 5.7% at the end of November.
These figures were reported by employment agency ADEM on Wednesday.
17,439 job seekers were registered with ADEM as of 30 November. Compared to November 2022, this represents an increase of 19.3%, or 2,817 people.
The most affected group are qualified job seekers (higher education graduates). Among the new registrations in November, 92 involve refugees from Ukraine.
The professions suffering the most from the rise in unemployment are linked to the construction, communication, media and multimedia sectors. Other sectors hit hard are finance, real estate, industry, IT, accounting and business strategy.
Meanwhile, employers declared 2,553 vacant positions to ADEM in November, a 22% decrease compared to last year.
Employment has slowed considerably since the start of the year, reaching virtual stagnation in the third quarter.
“Business services – usually among the main drivers of growth – and construction mainly contribute to the slowdown,” STATEC noted in its report.
Unemployment is predicted to rise to 5.9% amongst the job-seeking population.
To summarise its report, the year 2023 is marked by a “clear slowdown in activity in the eurozone, and certain countries, including Luxembourg, are in recession.”
Economic activity in Luxembourg is down compared to last year. Reasons for this include the poor results of the financial sector in terms of volumes and non-financial services.
Statec expects “a slight recession in activity” in 2023, but notes that “private household consumption and public spending will have contributed to keeping domestic demand intact”. Light at the end of the tunnel could be the news that mortgage rates will drop in 2024.
The three years 2022-2024 are already described by Statec as an “episode of economic underperformance in Luxembourg”.
