2016 brought sustained employment growth for Luxembourg, with salaried employee numbers rising by 3.3% on the year before says the Luxembourg employment services agency, ADEM, in it annual activity report.
The number of resident job seekers available is lower than it was in 2014, a fact welcomed by Isabelle Schlesser, ADEM director. "The current decline has been going on for 27 months,” she noted.
"I am particularly pleased with the fall in unemployment among young people under 30 who dropped by 14% between 2014 and 2016,” said Schlesser.
The number of people who sought support from an employment measure proposed by ADEM also fell by 7%.
Older job-seekers or those with health problems still face difficulties in finding a foot in the labour market, and therefore the ADEM focused its efforts on populations furthest away, using profiling and job training.
One of ADEM's flagship projects, the Youth Guarantee, showed that 76% of young people enrolled received a quality offer from ADEM advisors. 63% of these offers consisted of an offer of employment, a higher figure than last year.
2016 saw reform of the Disabled Employees Service (SSH) and the ADEM's Reduced Work Capacity Service (SSCTR), with specialised SSCTR and SSH advisors integrated into the ADEM agencies in order to optimise the personalised itineraries of job seekers. The activities of the new Disability and Occupational Reclassification Service (S-HRP) consist of managing financial support and commissions related to the SSH and the SSCTR.
Gaby Wagner also announced that in 2016, 4,200 jobseekers took part in training activities organised by or with the ADEM, 55.6% more than in 2015. "Training is one of the solutions for narrowing the gap between available job offers and job-seekers' profiles,” she said.
More people found apprenticeships in 2016, and the number of unfilled apprenticeships has correspondingly fallen.
Last year, companies declared more than 33,500 vacancies, 23% more than 2105. Actions for enterprises undertaken by the agency were strengthened and bore fruit, the report said. In particular, advisers organised 146 recruitment workshops involving more than 3,600 jobseekers, enabling companies to facilitate their recruitment through the pre-selection process carried out by the employers' advisers of the ADEM.
Ian Tewes, Deputy Director of ADEM, recalled that 2016 was also marked by the launch of an interactive JobBoard, a platform that allows employers to view the profiles of jobseekers.
Between March and December 2016, 8,500 contacts were generated by JobBoard on the initiative of the employers. 25,000 were initiated by jobseekers and validated by the ADEM. This eADEM is an integral part of ADEM's digitisation strategy and shows that the first test of acceptance of digital tools is a success.
"We need a coherent strategy to offer ADEM services via a digital channel to our customers in order to offer them an easy and fast interaction. This allows ADEM to gain speed and efficiency and improve the quality of our data," he explained.
The annual press conference was also an opportunity for Isabelle Schlesser to announce the results of a satisfaction survey carried out among 6,400 employers by the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) at the end of 2016, which found that 84% of employers would still use ADEM services, and 68% would recommend them to others.
"The results are encouraging and confirm our double strategy to on the one hand, further strengthen the digitisation of ADEM and, on the other, to focus on personalised contacts," said Isabelle Schlesser.
Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg’s labour minister, thanked all the ADEM agents for their work. The minister stated that "in 2016, ADEM has put in place actions further strengthening its dynamic public service position and is listening to its customers. Unemployment has declined significantly in recent years, but the number of long-term unemployed remains high. That is why I will launch a new large-scale initiative to combat long-term unemployment on 8 May,” he said.
