After fluctuating between 4.8% and 4.9% at the start of the year, the unemployment rate peaked at 5% in May 2023, according to the latest figures from Luxembourg’s employment agency Adem and the country’s statistics bureau Statec. It was 4.7% a year ago.

This is a logical increase, since the number of jobseekers is rising, while vacancies are becoming scarcer.

15,188 applicants were registered with Adem on 31 May 2023, 8.9% more than a year earlier. There were 2,227 new resident registrations, 4.1% more than in May 2022. 64 of these registrations concerned refugees from Ukraine, who were granted temporary protection. The number of jobseekers is up for all job vacancy durations, except for those with a registration duration of more than 12 months.

Compared with the figures for April 2023, the number of jobseekers has fallen slightly, by 0.9%, although new registrations are up, by 4.16%.

Only 3,528 vacancies have been declared: down 26.7% compared to May 2022. “This fall in the number of jobs advertised concerns all sectors of activity, with the exception of manufacturing, trade, transport, storage and education,” said Adem. Compared to April, the number of declarations has risen by 18.7%.

But in the end, the number of jobs still available fell: from 9,936 on 30 April to 9,686 on 31 May. The year-on-year fall was 26.9%.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.