Cooperation deal signed by Employment Administration and temporary agencies

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In December 1997, Luxembourg's Employment Administration and the Union of Temporary Employment Agencies signed an agreement, aimed at better using temporary work top help unemployed people return to the labour market.

A cooperation agreement was signed on 9 December 1997 by the Employment Administration (Administration de l'Emploi, ADEM) and the Union of Temporary Employment Agencies (Union luxembourgeoise des entreprises de travail intérimaire, ULEDI). The aim of the deal is to make it easier for job-seekers registered with ADEM to contact employers using the services of temporary employment agencies.

It is important to bear in mind that temporary work has only been legal in Luxembourg since the Law of 19 May 1994, and that the atmosphere between ADEM and ULEDI has always been cool since the former has consistently claimed a monopoly over placements. Furthermore, given the steady increase in the number of indigenous job-seekers, the new agreement also responds to an increasingly urgent demand on the part of the social partners for greater transparency in the labour market.

The agreement particularly aims to take advantage of the opportunities provided by temporary work with a view to enabling long-term unemployed people to enter, or return to, the labour market.

The temporary employment agencies have undertaken to notify ADEM of offers of work initially lasting a minimum of two weeks; they will also be involved in the administrative monitoring of employment offers. Meanwhile, ADEM will form close working links with these firms, publicising jobs that are clearly identifiable as temporary.