Chamber of Deputies prepares debate on employment policy

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The labour and employment parliamentary committee of Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies has been preparing for an orientation debate on employment policy to be held in November 1997. It will submit its conclusions in three parts after consulting the social partners.

Luxembourg's parliamentary commission dealing with "labour and employment" issues organised its first consultations with the social partners and other parties on 15 October 1997, in preparation for an orientation debate on employment policy scheduled to take place in open session on 13 November 1997.

The OGB-L and LCGB trade union confederations hold similar views on the subject, and were able to present their ideas first. The Private Sector White-Collar Workers' Federation (Fédération des employés privés, FEP) and the Employers' Liaison Committee (Comité de Liaison Patronal) were questioned on their positions the following morning. Representatives of the Ministries of Labour, National Education, the Economy, Employment and Administration, and the Central Statistical and Economic Studies Centre (Service central de la statistique et des études économiques, Statec) were interviewed in the afternoon.

The parliamentary commission hopes to submit its final conclusions in three chapters before a plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies on 4 November 1997. They cover:

• a current and future analysis of unemployment figures in Luxembourg;

• an analysis of the effectiveness of the legislative measures combating unemployment that were implemented on the basis of decisions taken in the Tripartite Coordinating Committee; and

• an analysis of the possibility of creating new jobs through new approaches to working time (this will inevitably involve discussion on flexible working and shorter working hours).