Manufacturing, construction to have over 700 job openings

Luxembourg manufacturing, construction and public works companies have hundreds of jobs available in the next two years for people with the right academic training and labour skills, business lobby group Fedil said on Thursday.

The 57 firms surveyed by Fedil’s reported anticipating 765 employment offers for those with technical and production skills, as well as different academic backgrounds, Fedil said in its 2023 employment forecast. The number of jobs made available by the industry increased this year by 51%, Fedil said.

The companies said they want to hire engineers, physicians, chemists, administrators, engineers, IT experts, researchers, and many other positions, all within the production field.

“Making sure the recruitment intentions of the industry and trying to guide the professional orientations of young people is all the more important in the current context, where companies are faced with the double challenge of ecological transition and digital transformation,” Fedil Director General René Winkin said in a statement.

A company's climate credentials are a factor for more than two-thirds of young people in Luxembourg before they apply for a job, a survey published on Tuesday by the European Investment Bank (EIB) found.

Employers want to recruit people with either a Master’s degree, a Phd, a technician degree, or a Diplôme d’aptitude professionnelle (DAP), a vocational aptitude certification, Fedil said. Companies have a particular interest for DAP graduates, with 44% of open positions at the companies surveyed requesting that form of training, Fedil said.

The Brevet de Technicien Supérieur (BTS) and Luxembourg’s training to become a technician have both dropped from employers’ requested qualifications, Fedil said.

While the manufacturing and public works industries are ready to hire more workers, the construction sector has been coping with falling demand and rising borrowing costs.

The Luxembourg Federation of Construction and Civil Engineering Companies is to propose that the government pay for a package that would allow their workers to receive partial unemployment pay as less work means fewer workers are needed.

The Luxembourg Times has a new mobile app, download here! Get the Luxembourg Times delivered to your inbox twice a day. Sign up for your free newsletters here.