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Unemployment Insurance in EU->Luxembourg
Unemployment insurance in Luxembourg
This article provides information on everything you need to know to claim unemployment benefits in Luxembourg.
If you have worked and paid social security contributions in another country in the European Union, the corresponding periods can be taken into account to determine your right to unemployment benefit in Luxembourg.
In what situation can I claim?
If you have contributed to social security and you have been involuntarily deprived of your job, you may, under certain conditions, access unemployment benefits.
What conditions do I need to meet?
To gain access to unemployment benefits, you must fulfil the following conditions:
Full unemployment (Chômage complet)
- be between 16 and 64 years old
- have worked in Luxembourg for at least 26 weeks (at least 16 hours per week) over the course of the 12 months prior to the date of registering as a jobseeker. This condition is not required of young jobseekers
- be involuntarily out of work
- be domiciled in Luxembourg at the time of the notification of your dismissal
- be fit for work, available for the job market and prepared to accept any suitable work
- be registered as a jobseeker with the Agence pour le Développement de l'Emploi (ADEM)
Early retirement (Préretraite)
Early retirement relates to private sector employees aged over 57 who have entered into a special agreement with their employer. There are several forms of early retirement:
- progressive early retirement (préretraite-progressive), which gives eligible companies a possibility to allow a salaried employee to gradually to reduce his/her degree of employment
- early retirement-adjustment (préretraite-ajustement), which involves employees of a company in the event of the closure or restructuring of this company
- the early retirement of shift workers and night workers relating to private and public sector employees having spent at least 20 years of their career in a fixed night shift or 15 years of shift work or night work during the 25 years immediately preceding their early retirement
Further information about early retirement is available in the Luxembourg State administrative guide.
What am I entitled to and how can I claim?
To register as a jobseeker, please contact the relevant regional office of ADEM (the Agence pour le développement de l'emploi) linked to your place of residence. Registration will take place on the date of first personal presentation with ADEM.
Full unemployment
- The benefits period shall be equal to the duration of work, calculated in full months, carried out over the 12 months preceding the date of registration as a jobseeker.
- All jobseekers who meet the conditions of entry can receive benefits for 365 days per 24-month period.
- The maximum period of 12 months may be extended under certain conditions (age, ability to work or insurance period).
The amount of the benefits, within the limit of a certain threshold, is equal to:
- 80% of the gross salary of the last three months prior to becoming unemployed, or
- 85% of the gross salary of the last three months prior to becoming unemployed, if the person who is without work is responsible for at least one child for whom they receive family allowances and child benefits.
Under certain conditions, the reference period of three months may be extended to six months in the event of significant variations in the level of salary.
The amount of the benefits may not exceed 250% of the minimum wage, meaning EUR 6,427.33. This ceiling will be decreasing and reduced as the compensation continues.
Self-employed people covered for at least 2 years by compulsory insurance and who have stopped working owing to economic or financial difficulties, for medical reasons or in the event of force majeure, may also access these benefits, on the condition that they register with ADEM. The benefits are determined based on the income on which pension insurance contributions are calculated.
As a general rule, the benefits are paid without any tide-over period. However, for young unemployed people, unemployment benefits are paid after a period of 39 weeks (or 26 weeks in some cases) following the date of their registration as a jobseeker. Young unemployed people registered with ADEM within 12 months following their training may access benefits of 70% of the minimum wage (40% of the minimum wage for young people aged 16 or 17 and who have not passed an apprenticeship exam).
Early retirement
The payment period for early retirement may not exceed 3 years and the amount, which reduces every year, corresponds to:
- 85% of the reference salary for the first period of 12 months
- 80% of the reference salary for the following 12 months
- 75% of the reference salary for the last 12 months
The monthly early retirement benefits are calculated based on the average gross salary for the 12 months immediately preceding the awarding of early retirement, capped at five times the monthly minimum wage (making EUR 12,854.64 in 2024). In the event of progressive early retirement (gradual reduction in working hours), the amount of the benefits is adapted to the employee's period of working hours, on a pro rata basis.
Jargon busters
- Agence pour le Développement de l’Emploi (ADEM): public service in charge with guiding job seekers, establishing and paying unemployment benefits.
- Full unemployment: workers in "full unemployment" are workers whose employment contract has come to an end, as compared with a worker in "partial unemployment", who is still bound by an employment contract but whose work is temporarily reduced or suspended.
- Young unemployed person: a young person who has just finished or interrupted their basic training and who is seeking a job. The waiting period before receiving benefits depends on the duration of studies or the fact that they have taken professional training courses or carried out a traineeship.
Forms you may need to fill in
The forms to be completed are available online on the Guichet.lu website.
Know your rights
The links below provide a legal definition of your rights.
- Page about unemployment in the Luxembourg State administrative guide.
- Are you looking for a job? Welcome to ADEM.
Who do you need to contact?
Agence pour le Développement de l’Emploi (ADEM)
Address: 10, rue Bender L-1229 Luxembourg - For local agencies visit the website.
Telephone number
for jobseekers: +352 247 - 88888
for employers: +352 247 - 88000
E-mail: info@adem.public.lu
Website: https://adem.public.lu
This page was last updated in 2024.
- Unemployment insurance in Europe →
Unemployment Insurance in Luxembourg
You might also be interested in:
⇒EU social security coordination
⇒Unemployment Insurance in the Nordic countries
Key points of EU Unemployment Insurance coordination
- Transferring periods of work and insurance between EEA countries As an EU citizen you can transfer acquired rights from Unemployment Insurance when moving between EU/EEA contries. In this way it may be easier to become entitled to unemployment benefit in the country you move to.
In the vast majority of the Member states the aggregation rule become fully applicable as soon as you starts to work in the country. However in Denmark, Belgium and Finland you must work some period there before you can use the aggregation rule.
You need a PD U1 document in the country you leave or if the involved countries use electronically exhange (EESSI) there will be issued a SED U002. The countries who issues the highest number of PD U1 documents are Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The countries who receives most PD U1 documents are Lithuania and Italy. - Transferring unemployment benefits Under certain conditions you can go to another EU country to look for work and continue to receive your unemployment benefits from the country where you became unemployed. The period you can export your unemployment benefits varies from 3 to 6 months in the different Member states.
You have to apply for a PD U2 document in the country you leave, or if you haven't done that the institution in the receiving country must request a SED U008 from the competent institution in your last country.
The countries who issues the highest number of PD U2 documents are Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark. Poland is the country who receives by far most PD U2 documents. - Unemployment benefits coverage According to OECD the net replacement of income after 2 months of unemployment, for a single person without children whose previous in-work earnings were 67% of the average wage varies from 33 percent (Ireland) to 91 percent (Belgium). Read more here..
- Having residence in another EU country than where you work? According to EU social security coordination rules you must only be insured against unemployment in one country at a time. As a generel rule this country is where you work.
In Member states who have compulsory insurance, you will automatically be covered when you start working there.
However you may be insured by your country of residence if you are posted to a EU/EEA country or work in two or more EU/EEA countries at a time. In these situations you can not your self decide where to have unemployment Insurance, but you (or your employer) must apply for a PD A1 document which states in which country you are covered by social security, including Unemployment Insurance. Special rule also apply for cross-border workers ("frontier workers"). - Third-country Nationals working in EU/EEANON-EEA citizens are covered by Unemployment Insurance in the EU countries who have compulsory Unemployment Insurance. In countries with voluntary Unemployment Insurance (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) third-country nationals can become member of an Unemployment Insurance Fund.
In the most countries Third-country nationals can also use the EU Coordination rules when moving within EU/EEA (however not in Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
Third-country nationals in short-tem working relations often faces problems with actually get Unemployment benefits, even though they have contributed to the system. This is due to the fact that one normally need a residence permit which allow one to take any job, and also because of a qualifying period in most countries between 6-12 months.