An unemployment rate rising to 6.5%, despite sustained momentum in terms of reported job vacancies

As of 31 August 2026, ADEM has 20,136 registered resident jobseekers available for work, i.e. 2,071 more people than at the end of August 2025 (+11.5% year-on-year).

This increase remains particularly pronounced among the most highly qualified jobseekers (+19.0%), who account for one third of those concerned. In terms of age groups, the most significant increase concerns those aged 30-44 (+13.9% year-on-year), closely followed by those aged 16-29 (+13.5% year-on-year). The increase among those aged 45-64 stands at 8.4% over 12 months.

With regard to the occupations sought, certain increases are confirmed: this is the case for secretarial and administrative support occupations (category M16 of the ROME reference framework), IT occupations (M18), accounting and management occupations (M12), as well as organisation and research occupations (M14); this is also the case for cleaning and industrial cleaning occupations (K22), banking occupations (C12) and legal occupations (K19). Culinary production occupations (G16) and daily living assistance occupations (K13) are also experiencing notable increases.

The unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted and calculated by STATEC, stands at 6.5%.

In August, ADEM recorded 2,548 new registrations of resident jobseekers, representing an increase of 3.5% compared with August 2025.

The number of resident jobseekers receiving full unemployment benefits stands at 9,976¹ at the end of the month. Jobseekers undergoing external professional redeployment and receiving the waiting allowance (IA) or professional waiting allowance (IPA) number 1,597.

The number of residents benefiting from an employment measure is 4,222, representing an increase of 4.3% compared with August 2025.

As regards non-residents, 870 people registered with ADEM in August 2026 (+28.7% year-on-year). The number of available non-resident jobseekers stands at 4,262. The increase in their number has therefore accelerated (+30.5% year-on-year). Of these, 2,497 have external professional redeployment status and are therefore, in this capacity, eligible for financial assistance paid by ADEM under the same conditions as residents. For this category, the year-on-year increase has slowed somewhat, to 8.5%. The other non-residents registered with ADEM have registered spontaneously, without being eligible for any financial assistance. At the end of August 2026, there were 1,765 of them, corresponding to a very sharp year-on-year increase (+82.9%).

In August, 1,052 non-resident jobseekers with external professional redeployment status received full unemployment benefits; in addition, 1,903 received an IA or IPA.

In August 2026, employers reported 2,768 job vacancies to ADEM, representing a marked 5.0% increase year-on-year. The stock of available job vacancies at the end of the month stood at 6,715, equivalent to an increase of 2.7% year-on-year.

The occupations recording the strongest increase since August 2025 are in social, socio-educational and socio-cultural services (category K12 of the ROME reference framework), paramedical care (J15), food retail and food trades (D11), daily living assistance (K13), construction and structural works (F17), information and telecommunications systems (M18), and organisation and research (M14).

[1] The statistical series relating to beneficiaries of full unemployment benefits, IA and IPA (definitions and legal references at the end of the document) are subject to a rolling monthly revision covering the previous twelve months in order to take into account the retroactive granting of entitlement to benefits.

• An available resident jobseeker is a person registered with ADEM who resides on Luxembourg territory and who on the date of the statistical statement is neither in employment, nor assigned to an employment measure, nor on sickness or maternity leave.
• A resident jobseeker is a person registered with ADEM who resides in Luxembourg and who, on the date of the statistical report, is assigned to an employment measure.
• An available non-resident jobseeker is a person registered with ADEM who does not reside in Luxembourg and who, on the date of the statistical report, is neither in employment, nor assigned to an employment measure, nor on sickness or maternity leave.
• A jobseeker with reduced capacity for work is a person who benefits from an external reclassification decision pursuant to articles L.551-1 et seq. of the Labour Code.
• A recipient of full unemployment benefit is a person who is registered with ADEM and who is receiving benefit under article L. 521-1 et seq. of the Labour Code.
• A beneficiary of a waiting allowance or a waiting professional allowance is a person registered with ADEM and receiving compensation under application of article L. 551-5 of the Labour Code.
• The unemployment rate is the ratio between the number of available resident jobseekers and the resident active population.

More detailed interactive tables relating to the above data can be found in the ‘Key figures’ section of the ADEM website.

Raw data are also available on the Statistics Portal via the ‘Open Data’ portal.

The August 2026 data will be published on 20 Octobre 2026.