Luxembourg: study on Skills Strategy – assessment and recommendations

The need to anticipate demographic change and meet sectoral skills demand to ensure the competitiveness and resilience of the Luxembourgish economy has led as early as in 2020 to the establishment of the 'Skillsdësch', an initiative which periodically brings together government and social partners representatives. In 2021, the Skillsdësch commissioned an OECD-led study, to analyse the state of play of the Luxembourgish CVET system and develop recommendations for a long-term strategic CVET approach. The study used a participatory approach, based on a questionnaire, written input from main stakeholders and a series of meetings (bilateral interviews, conferences and focus groups) involving 160 actors from the Luxembourg ecosystem. In February 2023, the OECD presented the results of the study in a report.

Challenges in skills provision

The report identified the following main skill challenges for Luxembourg: 

• high skill mismatches led to prevalent skill shortages;
• significant variation of participation in adult learning across socioeconomic groups, while those in need participate the least;
• foreign talent seeking to work and live in Luxembourg face high barriers through complex immigration procedures, high living costs and language barriers;
• absence of sufficiently timely and reliable data on current and future skill needs.

Recommendations

The 'Skillsdësch' and the setting up of a national skills strategy share the common goal of closing skill gaps through a long-term strategic approach to continuing vocational education and training. The report consists of a series of findings on skills and recommendations adapted to the specific situation of Luxembourg, which are organised around the four strands that were considered priorities since the beginning of the study. Two opportunities for improvement were selected for each of the four priority areas:

• provision of continuing vocational training in line with labour market needs:
  • improving the coherence and accessibility of adult learning opportunities;
  • increasing the relevance and ensuring the quality of adult learning;
• promoting lifelong learning and upskilling/reskilling:
  • improving guidance services for adult learning;
  • improving financial incentives for adult learning;
• attracting and retaining talent:
  • facilitating the recruitment of foreign talent in line with Luxembourg's labour market needs;
  • facilitating the integration of foreign talent and their families into Luxembourg's society and labour market;
• strengthening governance of data skills:
  • improving the quality of Luxembourg's skills data collection;
  • strengthening coordination of, and synergies between, skills data within and beyond Luxembourg.

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OECD Skills Strategy Luxembourg: assessment and recommendations