Unemployment in Luxembourg

A person can register with ADEM while still employed to look for another job or after losing work. Registration is available online through MyGuichet.lu or in person by appointment at an ADEM office in Luxembourg, Esch-Belval or Diekirch. Online access requires LuxTrust, a Luxembourg identity card or an EU eIDAS identity. A matricule, valid identity document or residence permit, résumé and training certificates are normally useful. ADEM can be contacted at +352 247 88888. Registration as a demandeur d’emploi, meaning a registered jobseeker, does not itself create an entitlement to payment. Since 1 January 2026, a resident employee applies for full unemployment benefit online through MyGuichet.lu. After registration, ADEM carries out an initial review and sends an invitation when an entitlement appears likely. The application should normally be filed within four weeks after the job ends. The application may require bank details with IBAN and BIC, the last employment contract, termination documents and evidence concerning children or family benefits. People who cannot complete the online process or authenticate electronically can request personal help from ADEM. A resident employee generally needs to be aged 16 to 64, involuntarily unemployed, fit for work, available for work and willing to accept suitable employment under the applicable Grand-Ducal rules. The person normally must have worked at least 182 days or 16 hours per week in one or more jobs during the 12 months before registration. A voluntary termination without a justified reason, a mutual termination agreement or dismissal for serious misconduct can exclude payment. For several simultaneous jobs, the lost working time must generally reach at least 16 hours per week, while remaining earnings must stay below 150% of the social minimum wage for an unqualified worker. For a resident employee, the standard payment is 80% of the gross wage from the last three months, with a reference period of up to six months where required. The rate can reach 85% for a person with at least one child receiving tax moderation. The thirteenth-month payment is excluded from the calculation, and index adjustments can apply. The payment is capped at 2.5 times the social minimum wage during the first six months, twice that wage during the following months and 1.5 times that wage during an extension. Taxes and social contributions are deducted, while the Fonds pour l’emploi replaces the employer and pays the employer share of social contributions. The duration corresponds to the full months worked during the reference period and is normally limited to 12 months. Additional six-month extensions can apply for certain age, disability, employment-measure or long insurance-record situations. Self-employed workers follow different conditions. The activity must have ended involuntarily, the person must register with ADEM and apply within six months, be aged 16 to 64 and have at least two years of compulsory insurance as an employee or self-employed worker with CCSS, Luxembourg’s social security centre. The last self-employed activity must have been in Luxembourg and normally lasted at least six months before the application. Managing a business or holding a business authorisation generally excludes payment, although a limited side activity may fall under Article L.521-18 of the Labour Code. The amount is normally 80% of the contribution base from the last two financial years, or 80% of the social minimum wage when contributions are unavailable, with 85% possible for a person with at least one child and the same 2.5, 2 and 1.5 social-minimum-wage caps. The standard duration is 365 days, subject to applicable extensions, and income from a side activity may reduce the payment. Young school-leavers do not receive payment automatically when education ends. A resident aged 16 to 27 must register with ADEM, be fit and available for work and accept suitable employment. Access depends on the qualification and age: some people without a qualification wait six months after registration, while a person aged 21 or older without a qualification has no entitlement under that eligibility path. A CATP or comparable qualification can allow immediate access before age 23. A school-based qualification can require six months of registration before age 23, and a secondary-school qualification can require six months before age 25. A four-year higher-education course or a Master I can require six months before age 28, while ending studies early can require six months after the academic year before age 25. Payment starts no earlier than after 26 weeks, is generally 70% of the social minimum wage, falls to 40% for ages 16 and 17, and can increase by 5% for a person with at least one child. The standard duration is 365 days. Unjustified withdrawal from a job or training place, or dismissal for serious misconduct, can remove entitlement. A cross-border worker who lives outside Luxembourg and loses a Luxembourg job normally does not receive Luxembourg’s full unemployment benefit. The residence-country authority decides the benefit under its own law. ADEM can issue a U1 form confirming Luxembourg insurance periods and can provide an employment or termination certificate. The competent body may be the Bundesagentur für Arbeit or Agentur für Arbeit in Germany, ONEM or Le Forem in Belgium, or Pôle emploi in France. The worker can still register with ADEM to look for work, but that registration is separate from benefit entitlement. Under the conditions for exporting a European unemployment benefit, payment can usually continue for up to three months while seeking work in Luxembourg with a U2 form and ADEM registration within seven days. While receiving payment, the jobseeker must search actively and continuously, respond to ADEM invitations, attend appointments at the stated place and time and accept suitable work, internships, training or travaux d’utilité publique when required. JobBoard searches, applications and unsolicited applications can provide evidence of the search. ADEM must be informed immediately about illness, foreign travel, personal absence, education, a corporate mandate, part-time or temporary work and a return to work. A medical certificate, prior leave approval, contract or training-enrolment evidence may be required. Up to 25 working days of approved absence per year may be available; payment is suspended during that leave. Illness or maternity can allow payment to continue when the CNS, Luxembourg’s health insurance body, is responsible. Missing an appointment without a valid reason can suspend payment for seven days, up to 30 days after repetition, and may lead to removal from the register. Unjustified refusal of suitable work, training or public service can end or withdraw payment. Occasional earnings must be declared in full and may be compatible only under the applicable rules. The first payment generally arrives within 10 days after approval, and later payments are generally made on the fifth working day of the following month. A person can request reconsideration from the Conseil arbitral de la sécurité sociale within 40 days of an ADEM director’s decision, then appeal to the Conseil supérieur de la sécurité sociale within the applicable 40-day period. ADEM services and official Guichet procedures do not list a separate application fee. ADEM can support re-entry through counselling, job matching, training and activation measures. From 1 July 2026, a stage de professionnalisation is available to eligible ADEM-registered jobseekers after at least one month of registration. A contrat de réinsertion-emploi, or CRE, can last 12 months for people aged 45 or older, people in external professional redeployment or people with disabled-worker status, provided they have been registered with ADEM for at least one month and a real job perspective exists. The aide au réemploi can support a new job that pays less than the previous one, generally for people aged 45 or older who received unemployment benefit, were registered with ADEM for at least one month and had 24 months of Luxembourg employment. It can cover up to 90% of previous pay for the first 48 months, subject to a limit of 50% of the new gross wage, and the application must normally be filed within three months. When full unemployment benefit ends because the maximum duration or another condition has ended, the person is over 65 or has unjustifiably refused suitable work or a measure, REVIS may provide a means-tested minimum inclusion income through the Fonds national de solidarité. ADEM registration and job search, together with exhaustion of other available entitlements, are generally relevant. EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and their families can face exclusion during the first three months of residence or while their entry purpose remains active job search. Third-country nationals generally need five years of lawful residence during the previous 20 years or long-term resident status for this support. As of 31 July 2026, Luxembourg’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3%. ADEM recorded 19,943 available resident jobseekers, 10,148 resident recipients of full unemployment benefit, 4,128 available non-resident jobseekers, 2,482 non-residents in external professional redeployment and 7,183 vacancies. ADEM publishes these monthly statistics at approximately the twentieth day of the following month. The figures describe the labour market at a particular date and do not determine an individual’s entitlement.