This struggle was reflected in the unemployment numbers reported by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Monday.
Many business owners in the sector had already sounded the alarm at the beginning of 2023, including the CEO of Inowai in an RTL interview in March.
We are currently witnessing an increase in unemployment in the Grand-Duchy. The Ministry of Labour published a detailed rapport of its evolution in Luxembourg, broken down by professions.
The property sector is by far the worst off, as unemployment rose by 77% between May 2022 and May 2023. The number is all the more worrying considering that there is no shortage of manpower in this sector.
This could mean that a lot of these workers could be unemployed for a longer period of time. And the situation is unlikely to resolve soon as the ECB has announced another increase for their key rates.
In a reply to a parliamentary question, Minister of Labour George Engel explains that while professional retraining is always possible, it often requires “months or even years of training and support”. Nothing reassuring for the jobseekers concerned.
Another interesting data point in the report is that in a year the unemployment rate of under 30-year-olds increased from 17% to 19% in a year.
Other sectors have also been struggling the past few months. The most significant increases in unemployment rates, other than in the real estate sector, were in building design and engineering (+42%), information and telecommunications systems (+41%) and marketing and sales strategy (+28%).
Meanwhile the professions that experience a lack of manpower are more or less the same as last year: accountancy, construction and catering. Furthermore and despite being known as a strong market, the banking sector is currently experiencing a shortage of candidates.
