The 2026 list identifies 20 professions facing severe shortages in Luxembourg, down from 22 in 2025, 24 in 2024 and 30 in 2023.
Three new sectors have been added to the list this year, including construction and industrial maintenance, whilst five professions, including accountants and management controllers, have been removed from the list.
Employers with vacancies in these 20 professions benefit from simplified and accelerated procedures for recruiting third-country nationals, with a foreign labour certificate issued within five working days.
Published annually in the first quarter based on data from the previous year, the list of occupations facing severe shortages serves as a key barometer of the Luxembourg labour market.
It is based on three objective indicators: the number of vacancies reported to ADEM, the number of jobseekers registered for the same occupation, and the number of vacancies reported for which no match could be made with a candidate meeting the required profile.
The 2026 list identifies the jobs, and their sub-categories, that are in high demand by recruiters and for which very few candidates are available through ADEM. Its gradual reduction, from 30 occupations in 2023 to 20 in 2026, does not reflect a normalisation of the labour market but rather a partial rebalancing in certain sectors, where the supply of candidates has improved slightly without, however, closing the structural gap.
Five occupations are being removed from the list: aircraft mechanics and rail traffic controllers, as well as three business support professions, namely accountants, management controllers and roles in organisational and business management consultancy. The ADEM states that although these five professions remain under pressure, the imbalance between candidates and vacancies in 2025 is no longer sufficient to meet the criteria for the ‘severe shortage’ category.
Removal from the list therefore does not mean that the shortage has been resolved, but that the severity of the imbalance has fallen below the regulatory thresholds.
This general situation remains a cause for concern, however: as of 28 February 2026, the ADEM had 21,038 registered resident jobseekers, an increase of 1,578 people compared to February 2025, representing an 8.1% rise year-on-year.
Compared to the previous year’s list, new occupations have been added, notably in the construction sector and more specifically in finishing works with the installation and restoration of roofing, in industry, with management and industrial quality engineering, and in the installation and maintenance sector, with the installation and maintenance of industrial and operational equipment.
These three new entries illustrate a diversification of labour shortages that now extends beyond sectors traditionally associated with shortages, such as finance or IT. The inclusion of roofers and finishing tradespeople in the list reflects the construction sector’s persistent difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified candidates for demanding manual trades.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of industrial quality management and engineering reflects companies’ growing needs in terms of compliance, certification and continuous improvement, against a backdrop of increasingly stringent industrial and environmental standards.
As for technicians specialising in the installation and maintenance of industrial equipment, their shortage reflects the pressures affecting the Grand Duchy’s entire industrial fabric, which is facing an ageing technical workforce and a growing demand for specialisation.
Professions that have historically been in short supply remain prominent on the 2026 list. IT professions remain among the most difficult to fill. The health and social care sector also retains several entries, notably nursing, care assistants, early years educators and social workers. Finance, meanwhile, remains represented by roles in credit and banking risk analysis, banking client management and financial engineering.
The list of professions facing severe shortages has concrete and immediate effects on the recruitment practices of Luxembourgish companies. For positions corresponding to one of the 20 listed occupations, the employer may submit the application for a ‘foreign labour’ certificate directly when registering the vacancy with ADEM, or subsequently, throughout the validity period of the vacancy.
If the advertised post corresponds to an occupation on the list, the certificate is issued within five working days of the acknowledgement of receipt. This mechanism provides a significant operational advantage for HR departments faced with international recruitment processes that are often lengthy and complex.
The publication of the 2026 list of professions facing severe shortages by ADEM confirms that tensions in the Luxembourg labour market, although slightly easing in terms of the number of professions affected, remain structurally entrenched in sectors as varied as IT, healthcare, finance, the social sector, and now also construction and industry.
For HR professionals and employers in the Grand Duchy, this list serves as an essential reference guide, both for guiding international recruitment strategies and for anticipating the training needs of existing teams.
