Luxembourg's labour market in March 2025: stability amid underlying tensions

At first glance, the statistics from the ADEM press release for March 2025 paint a picture of stability: the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 5.9 per cent. However, this stability masks important structural changes that point to growing challenges in the labour market.

Compared to March 2024, the number of available applicants increased by 1,249 to 18,903 (+7.1%). The increase is particularly noticeable among people with higher education and those who have been on the register for more than 12 months. This means that highly qualified professionals are increasingly finding it difficult to find work. Occupations such as accountants (ROME category M12), IT specialists (M18), cooks (G16) and lorry drivers (N41) were particularly affected.

The number of new registrations on the labour exchange was virtually unchanged compared to March 2024, with 2,718 new residents (-0.5%). Meanwhile, the number of people receiving full unemployment benefit increased to 10,348 (+2.7%).

The paradox in the dynamics of vacancies is also interesting. Despite the fact that employers submitted 3,354 new adverts (+7.1% compared to March 2024), the total number of available positions fell by 10.2% to 6,821 vacancies. The supply in the banking sector (C12) and in accounting and warehouse logistics (N11) was particularly badly reduced.

While government measures are stabilising the market, these figures raise worrying questions: can the Luxembourg economy effectively cope with the growing number of highly skilled unemployed? And will this not be a long-term challenge in the face of digital transformation and demographic change?