Earlier this year, the Chamber Immobilière (Chamber of Real Estate) demanded estate agencies approve short-term work, amid an ongoing crisis in the sector. This demand was rejected by the economic committee on Tuesday, and Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot and Labor Minister Georges Engel confirmed the rejection in an RTL interview on Thursday.
Both LSAP ministers pointed out that Luxembourg has two real estate agencies per 1,000 inhabitants - more than anywhere else in the EU. The State could not intervene in such a competitive market without distorting it, while applying partial unemployment would be “basically impossible”, said Fayot.
The government would not be happy about people losing jobs in the construction and real estate sectors, Engel said, but it was up to the company bosses to take responsibility for their employees, particularly given the high margins made in the sectors over the past few years.
The recent news of job cuts at Husky and Dupont Teijin are a particular point of concern for the government, Engel continued, but said he hoped a solution could be found with short-term work or job retention schemes.
Can we expect more bankruptcies and more unemployment in the coming months? Fayot said a general recession was unlikely, but it is to be expected that the economy will slow down, as has been seen in other countries. This would be a consequence of the monetary policy set by central banks, required to combat inflation.
