According to the LISER’s LUXTALENT study published on 24 March 2026, around 30% of new foreign workers leave Luxembourg within a year of arriving, and 50% within five years
The country’s reliance on foreign labour continues to grow: nearly 90% of new entrants to the labour market in 2024 were born outside Luxembourg.
Face à ce défi de rétention, le gouverFaced with this retention challenge, the Luxembourg government launched the ‘Work in Luxembourg’ brand in early 2026 and established a High Committee dedicated to attracting and developing talent.nement luxembourgeois a lancé début 2026 la marque « Work in Luxembourg » et mis en place un Haut comité dédié à l'attraction et au développement des talents.
Luxembourg faces an increasingly apparent paradox: it remains one of the most attractive destinations in Europe for foreign workers, but its ability to retain them in the long term raises serious questions.
As part of the LUXTALENT agreement signed in March 2025, the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) carried out, at the request of the Ministry of the Economy, a study on the attraction and retention of newly arrived immigrants and cross-border workers in the Luxembourg labour market.
The results of this first part, published on 24 March 2026, paint a worrying yet nuanced picture, which directly challenges human resources departments across the Grand Duchy.
Nearly 90% of new entrants to the labour market in the Grand Duchy in 2024 were not born in Luxembourg, according to LISER. This figure illustrates the extent to which the Luxembourg economy relies on a constant influx of international labour.
Cross-border workers from France remain the largest group among foreign-born new entrants in 2024, accounting for 37.8% of the total, ahead of immigrants residing in Luxembourg (31.2%), cross-border workers from Germany (10.3%) and those from Belgium (9.7%).
At the same time, the proportion of workers holding nationality from one of the three neighbouring countries among first-time arrivals, which still stood at 73% in 2002, fell to 46% in 2024, a sign of increasing diversification of origins.
As for the proportion of non-European nationals among new arrivals, it has increased significantly since 2002, reaching 38.3% in 2024.
The sectoral composition of these arrivals is also shifting towards higher-skilled roles, with new immigrant workers increasingly gravitating towards skills-intensive sectors. By 2024, the ‘Professional, scientific and technical activities’ and ‘Financial and insurance activities’ sectors alone accounted for 40% of new immigrant workers, compared with a share of manual trades that stood at just 29% between 2021 and 2024, down from an average of 66% between 2002 and 2005.
This is the figure that is the focus of attention for HR managers and public decision-makers. Around 30% of new entrants to the labour market leave Luxembourg within a year of arriving, and 50% within five years. These figures, drawn from administrative data from the General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGSS), reveal a structural phenomenon that the country’s wage and tax attractiveness alone cannot stem.
The study does, however, highlight a notable difference between resident immigrants and cross-border workers. Among workers who arrived in 2024, 86.2% of immigrants were still in employment in 2025, compared with 65.1% of non-residents. The proportion of immigrants leaving their jobs within 12 months fell to 11.3% for the 2024 cohort, compared with 24.0% for the 2002 cohort. Among non-residents, however, it rose from 29.5% to 34.8%. This result suggests that Luxembourg is far more successful in retaining workers who physically settle there than those who continue to reside abroad.
Only three out of ten foreign-born workers who arrived in 2002 will still have a link to the Luxembourg social security system in 2025. The study’s overall conclusion is that Luxembourg’s challenge is no longer merely one of attractiveness: unless a greater number of these arrivals can be converted into longer and more stable careers, the economy will remain dependent on a model that constantly requires new inflows from abroad to replace those it loses.
Aware of the urgency of the situation, the Luxembourg government has taken several concrete steps to improve talent retention. All the work carried out with LISER as part of the LUXTALENT project forms part of the work of the High-Level Committee for the Attraction, Retention and Development of Talent, chaired by Lex Delles, Minister for the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism. This committee aims to coordinate public and private efforts around a coherent policy for regional and professional attractiveness.
The results of the study are being used to guide promotional efforts under the ‘Work in Luxembourg’ brand, which were launched in early 2026. This international communication initiative aims to position the Grand Duchy as a career destination in its own right, rather than merely as a transit market.
Beyond communication, experts agree that retention also depends on factors within companies themselves: quality of management, career progression opportunities, cultural integration and living conditions in the region. Access to housing, cross-border mobility and support for spouses in their own career paths are among the factors most frequently cited in qualitative studies on the subject.
This first part of the LUXTALENT study will be supplemented in the summer of 2026 by a second part, which will analyse Luxembourg’s position as a destination country for new immigrants and identify the factors that led these workers to choose or leave Luxembourg. This data will be invaluable for employers wishing to refine their employer branding strategy and onboarding practices.
