“In almost all sectors of activity, the watchword is the same: produce more, more quickly, with ever fewer resources. This logic, originally designed to support innovation, improve competitiveness and guarantee the prosperity of nations, now seems to have tipped over into a relentless mechanism where immediate profitability often takes precedence over quality of life and social justice.”
This analysis is by Nathalie Georges, a sociologist at the Chamber of Employees (Chambre des Salariés or CSL), published on the website improof.lu.
While productivity in itself is not intrinsically negative, it has had destructive results, the sociologist explains. “[It] has, over the decades, increased overall wealth and reduced poverty in order to stimulate technological innovation and improve living standards in many societies,” says says, “[but] when this quest for efficiency becomes an end in itself, detached from any ethical or social reflection, it has counter-productive and often destructive effects. It is in this context that a new reality is emerging: that of an economic model that gives priority to the short term, imposes infernal pace-setting and relegates the human dimension of work to second place.”
In its 2023-2024 report, published in March 2025, the National Productivity Council notes a slight fall in productivity in Luxembourg between 2022 and 2023 (2.57%), and finds that, for more than a decade, labour productivity in Luxembourg has shown almost zero growth. However, the country’s productivity level remains among the highest in Europe.
A polarised labour market
“In this logic of maximum performance, the first to suffer the consequences are the workers themselves, who are faced with an intensification of work, particularly through excessive workloads, which often exceed the limits of what is reasonable, generating chronic fatigue and mental overload; constant pressure to meet deadlines, which leaves little room for creativity, reflection or the right to make mistakes; an increased surveillance of performance via digital control devices, time and productivity measurement tools, which creates a widespread climate of mistrust.”
The labour market is becoming polarised: on the one hand, there is a minority of skilled workers who are well paid but subject to strong psychological pressure; on the other comes a majority of vulnerable employees, trapped in low-value, unstable jobs. This dualisation fuels a feeling of social injustice and abandonment, undermining cohesion and widening inequalities. In Luxembourg, the figures speak for themselves: more than half of employees report a high level of psychological distress, and 16.3% of sick leave days were linked to depression in 2023, according to figures from the social security ministry.
Georges quotes Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, who speaks of the emergence of a veritable “burnout economy.” She says: “Indeed, the intensification of work, the casualisation of employment and this polarisation of the labour market are the breeding ground… our rich societies in their unbridled pursuit of growth and productivity are now having to suffer the throes of a crisis linked to the mental health problems of their workers. We are therefore talking about a system in which mental and physical wear and tear on workers is becoming the norm, where sick leave for psychological reasons is exploding, and pathologies linked to stress, anxiety or burnout are proliferating.”
“Socially dangerous”
“Faced with this alarming situation, we need to restore a balance between economic performance and social justice.” In particular, Georges proposes greater regulation of the labour market, “in order to limit the abuses associated with the increasing casualisation of jobs”; adopting a fairer wage policy, “guaranteeing every worker a dignified wage, enabling them to live decently”; sharing productivity gains more fairly, “so that they benefit employees too”; and increasing access to training, retraining and upskilling, “so that no one is left by the wayside.”
Georges mentions, for example, the Quality of Work Index 2024, where 51% of overall employees reported an increased or high level of psychological suffering; 45% of workers in commerce, hotels and transport reported increased stress due to working conditions; and 26% of overall employees suffered from significant sleep disorders.
Analysing the case of Luxembourg, the sociologist warns of a situation that “is not only unfair, but also socially dangerous, as it contributes to the entrenchment of structural inequalities in a country that, on the surface, embodies economic success. As this pressure intensifies, there is a great risk that a lasting social divide will emerge, pitting a minority of well-integrated winners within prosperous sectors against a fragile majority, exposed to exhaustion and exclusion.”
This article was originally published in French.
