European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Art.L.621-1
Public support measures for job seekers in Luxembourg include mostly unemployment benefits. Support also includes specific assistance such as reemployment support or other specific measures as listed below:
Unemployment benefits
Redundant employees must take an appointment at an regional office of the national employment agency (ADEM) (Agence pour le Développement de l'Emploi, ADEM) no later than 15 days after the end of their employment relationship in order to submit an application for unemployment benefits. In order to receive unemployment benefits, the job seeker must have been employed on a full or part time basis for at least 16 hours per week prior to becoming unemployed. At the same time, the employee must also provide evidence that the employee has been in paid employment for at least 26 weeks with one or more employers in the course of the 12 months preceding the date of registration as unemployed.
Once the application has been accepted by ADEM, the job seeker receives an allowance which is equivalent to 80% of the previous gross salary from the last three months, or 85% if the job seeker benefits from a tax reduction for families with one or more children throughout the benefit period. The benefit is subject to the upper limit of 250% of the minimum social wage (€2,570,93 as at 1 September 2023), followed by 200% after six months and 150% if the job seeker remains unemployed for a longer period of time.
Any job seeker who meets the conditions for eligibility can benefit from this support for 365 days over a 24 months period. The period of eligibility can be extended under certain circumstances:
Assistance for job seekers
ADEM assists job seekers in finding a new job. The Labour Code stipulates that the role of the ADEM is to 'support, advise, guide and help people who are looking for employment' and 'take steps, in order to retrain and reemploy the workforce'. ADEM must provide personalised supervision and support for job seekers who are able to access job advertisements, can make use of a 'job club', which includes a documentation centre, IT equipment and provides advice to job seekers. They can book individual interviews with a psychologist or social-worker and complete a skills assessment. Workshops on how to write a CV or prepare for job interviews are also organised.
Reemployment support
After a person is made redundant, the job seeker may find a job which is less paid than the job seeker's previous job. In this case, the job seeker may receive a reemployment support benefit which aims to guarantee that the job seeker receives a pay equivalent to 90% of the previous wage for the first 48 consecutive months after taking up the new job. The employee receives the difference between 90 % of his former wage and the new wage. In order to obtain this benefit, the new employment contract must constitute a permanent or fixed-term contract, which is concluded for a minimum of 18 months or in order to cover for an employee who is on parental leave.
Geographical mobility support
If a job seeker lives too far from the future place of work, the job seeker can claim entitlement to geographical mobility support. This benefit covers travel expenses and may be granted, under certain conditions, to a job seeker who accepts a job at a distance of over 15 km from the habitual place of residence. This support takes the form of a monthly lump sum allowance for travel expenses and the amount increases in proportion to the distance between the employee’s place of residence and the place of work. The monthly allowance ranges from €61.97 if the distance is between 16-20 km to €136.34 if the distance is greater than 50 km. This mobility support can be granted for a maximum period of 18 months.
Business start-up assistance
Assistance for job seeker who set up or take over businesses in the territory of Luxembourg may be granted to:
This assistance, which takes the form of a single payment, is equivalent to the capitalised total amount of unemployment benefits to which the applicant would have been entitled within the first 6 months after the business was set up or taken over.
The number of resident job seekers enrolled with the public employment agency (ADEM) (Agence pour le Développement de l'Emploi, ADEM) stood at 16,565 on September 30th 2021. Over one year, this represents an increase of 2,432 job seekers or 17,2%. In the course of September 2023, ADEM opened 3,141 new files of resident job seekers, an increase of 189 job seekers or 6,6%% if compared to September 2022. During the month of September 2023, employers reported 3,109 vacant jobs to ADEM, which amounts to a decrease of 14,4% if compared to September 2022.
In 2022 (https://adem.public.lu/en/publications/adem/2023/ra-adem-2022.html), 3,434 job seekers benefitted from at least one training session over the year, and a total of 4,000 participants were registered in the various ADEM training schemes. Job seekers participated in the following training schemes organised by ADEM: 1,332 job seekers participated in activation and orientation training schemes; 652 participated in sectoral training schemes such as ICT; 326 participated in transversal training schemes such as digital skills; and 304 participated in linguistic training schemes.
Eurofound (2015), Luxembourg: Redundant employees entitlement to public support, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/redundant-employees-entitlement-to-public-support/luxembourg
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