The economic committee, which met on 21 January and was chaired by labour minister  (CSV), analysed the country’s economic situation and studied the forecast applications for reduced working hours for the month of February.

The number of applications for partial unemployment fell by 15 compared with the previous month, with 69 companies requesting this measure. In the end, the committee gave a favourable ruling on 64 applications. Of these, 48 were for “economic reasons,” nine were linked to a “job maintenance plan,” five were motivated by “economic dependence” and two were linked to a case of force majeure (accident on the Müden lock in Germany).

The number of employees affected by these measures totalled 6,624 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, compared with 7,126 the previous month. The committee points out that “these figures are indicative and concern the forecast number of employees affected. They do not therefore represent a concrete indicator of the economic situation.” Once approved, companies have two months in which to submit a breakdown of hours not worked to Luxembourg’s national employment agency Adem.

The Comité de conjoncture also took stock of partial unemployment applications for October, which had been approved at its September meeting. Of the 55 provisional requests validated at the time, 39 actually gave rise to short-time working. To date, four cases are still being examined.

The next meeting of the economic committee will take place on Tuesday 25 February.

This article was originally published in .