Luxembourg’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached 6.4% in June. ADEM counted 19,619 available resident jobseekers, 9.7% more than a year earlier, even as the number of declared vacancies increased.
Lose your job in Luxembourg through no fault of your own and the State pays full unemployment benefit (indemnité de chômage complet): 80% of your prior gross salary, or 85% with a dependent child. You must register with ADEM within four weeks, apply within two weeks of registering, have worked at least 182 days in the previous 12 months, and be a resident aged 16 to 64. Benefit runs for up to 12 months and is applied for online.
An EU revision of social-security rules will shift the cost of unemployment benefits for cross-border workers onto Luxembourg, the country where they work. With frontaliers filling about 47% of its salaried jobs, the Grand Duchy faces an estimated 200 million euros in extra annual cost. It secured a five-year phase-in, extendable to seven, but did not support the text.
Luxembourg's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 6.3% in April 2026, while ADEM reported 20,140 available resident jobseekers and continued growth in vacancies.
Luxembourg’s cross-border workers remain central to the economy, but 2026 raises practical questions about unemployment benefits, wage gaps, transport costs and housing pressure.
ADEM recorded 20,491 resident jobseekers available for work at 31 March 2026. The unemployment rate remained 6.3%, but increases among highly qualified workers, 30-44 year-olds and non-residents show a changing labour market.
Luxembourg could face a major administrative and budget shift if new EU rules require it to pay unemployment benefits for former cross-border workers.
ADEM’s 2025 report shows more than 42,000 registered jobseekers, a 25% rise since 2022 and growing pressure from cross-border unemployment rules.
ADEM reported a stable 6.3% unemployment rate in early 2026 with 21,255 resident jobseekers. From 1 January 2026, all unemployment benefit applications must be filed online; March vacancies were up 18.8% year-on-year.
From 2026, French, Belgian and German residents working in Luxembourg are entitled to Luxembourg unemployment benefits only after six uninterrupted months of work in the Grand Duchy.