The Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) published its third-quarter employment figures with Luxembourg experiencing the second-largest decline of any EU nation amid news of large-scale layoffs at Amazon and Quintet.
The employment rate for people aged 20–64 in the Grand Duchy fell by 0.5 percentage points between the second and third quarters of the year. Only Belgium, which saw a larger drop of 0.7 points, recorded a steeper decline. Ireland also posted a fall of 0.5 points.
Across the EU as a whole, the employment rate stood at 76.2 percent in the third quarter, unchanged from the previous three months. Eurostat indicate this signals a broadly stable labour market at bloc level, despite diverging regional developments.
Luxembourg’s downward trend comes as employment rose in 15 EU member states, including Malta, Estonia, Croatia, Portugal, and Romania, and coincides with the Grand Duchy’s largest-ever redundancy social plan, agreed with Amazon, which forecasts up to 370 redundancies in February.
There remains uncertainty surrounding the private banking firm Quintet, which has announced plans to cut almost 20 percent of its global workforce, with 300 roles set to go over the next three years out of a total of 1,650 employees, around 700 of whom are based in Luxembourg.
Quintet has been approached for comment but has so far declined to respond.
