National Initiatives Concerning the Career Guidance/Information/Vocational Counselling - Luxembourg

Source: European Union

Vocational Guidance for Workers

• Introduction and Definitions Used
• National Policy Concerning Vocational Guidance for Adults
• The General Provision of Vocational Guidance for Adults
  • Statutory Provision
    1. The Vocational guidance service of the Employment Administration
    2. Service de la Formation des adults S.F.A
    3. The Centre for national resources CNR
    4. Apprenticeship Advisory Service
  • Non-Statutory Provisions
    1. Private services
    2. Voluntary groups – Charitable organisations
    3. Local authority Provision
• The Role of the Social Partners in Vocational Guidance for Adults
• The Provision of Vocational Guidance and Learning Opportunities for Low-paid Workers

Interior employment includes persons, salaried and non-salaried working in Luxembourg whether or not they reside in the country. Thus it includes foreign border workers, but does not include Luxembourg border workers or civil servants from the international institutions based in Luxembourg.

Border workers are defined as those workers who travel to Luxembourg daily to work, minus Luxembourg residents who travel daily from the neighbouring countries to work and minus those persons working for international organisations in Luxembourg. These so-called border workers travel daily across the three adjacent borders from Germany, France and Belgium and account for approximately 33% of the total labour force.

In addition the Luxembourg working population is unique in the fact that 37.3 % of the population are resident aliens: the largest single group (which makes up 35% of the total aliens) is Portuguese. As the tables below indicate there has been a significant increase in non-EU nationals in the past decade; while the majority of aliens are EU nationals, 21% are from non-EU countries, one of the most significant being from ex-Yugoslavia. This shift in population structure has posed a challenge both to the school system and in the context of this study to all aspects of guidance, training and life-long learning.

In tables 1 and 2 the figures for 2000 and 2001 were calculated by Statec and refer to the situation on January 1st.

Table 1. Population trends in Luxembourg, 1981-2001 (thousands)

Table 2. Country of origin of aliens in Luxembourg and numbers (thousands)

Domestic employment has grown from 1,576,000 in 1981 to 2,623,000 in 2001. Although the numbers employed in the extracting and manufacturing industry have declined since 1981, the building industry has shown growth.

The biggest and fastest-growing sector, however, is the service sector. Banking and insurance alone have trebled since 1981 in terms of numbers employed.

The net number of non-resident border workers has expanded greatly in the same period, from 134,000 to 874,000, whereas the number of employees who are permanent residents (that is, excluding border workers and international agents or civil servants) has increased only from 1,508,000 to 1,832,000. Thus, although Luxembourg nationals still predominate in employment, the numbers employed have increased less than those of non-resident border workers.

In 2000 the composition of salaried persons was 33% border workers, 28% resident foreigners and 37% Luxembourg nationals. The annual growth rate of the labour market in the past decade has been approximately 3.5%, a growth largely filled by foreign residents and border workers. In addition to these specificities Luxembourg has consistently, over the past 20 years, had the lowest unemployment figures 2.6% in 2001 - Source EUROSTAT) of any Member State of the EU.

An analysis of the comparative monthly earnings of men and women reflects the fact that women are more likely to be low paid than men. The Ministère de la promotion Féminine observes that despite its efforts there continues to be both horizontal and vertical segregation between men and women in a number of branches of the economy, even in the more developed sectors such as banking.

It is also thought that lack of training is the main cause of unemployment both for men and women. While at the level of secondary education girls have caught up with boys there continue to be differences between the choices made by each group at tertiary level. On average women's earnings are between 60% and 80% of those of men. We note that the gap between male and female earnings is greater for the category employees than for manual workers and is also dependent on the sector of activity. For manual workers we observe the greatest differences in the manufacturing sector, where women earn under half of the male average wage. We also observe certain sectors, in particular health care, catering and cleaning, where there is a predominance of women and wages remain well below the national average and often close to the RGM (Guaranteed minimum income approximately € 1300 per month).

Table 3. Wages and remuneration (in EUR)

Source: STATEC

As mentioned above, the Luxembourg labour force is in terms of nationality and language very heterogeneous. The growth in domestic employment has largely been filled by inward migration. This diversity has implications both for the ability to apply for certain jobs where language competence is an essential part and also for training and guidance, which is language based.

Employment can be divided into three types: those jobs defined as public sector (open primarily only to Luxembourg nationals) (1), the private sector, where again certain jobs are dependent on Luxembourg nationality, while others are filled by resident migrants or border workers. The third sector embraces the self-employed. This somewhat complex structure leads to distortions in the distribution and job opportunities for certain members of the active population. (1) Legislation discussed in April 1999 has opened up some public sector jobs to non-nationals; these include the following sectors: transport, the post office, health and education.

National Policy Concerning Vocational Guidance for Adults

The close resemblance of the vocational education system to the German model, with the strong emphasis on apprenticeship, has meant that in this area there has been a close collaboration with the German services. In contrast the general education system owes much to the French and Belgium models and their influence is felt in this area.

The national policy for vocational guidance is principally in the hands of the Employment Administration (ADEM), a service of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education. Policy is formulated at national level although there are regional offices for the services. There are a few services operating outside the national system and these may be operated by local authorities or are private and fee-paying.

The mission of ADEM is to provide a wide-ranging service to enable the labour market to function in an optimum manner. It is expected to:

• take actions which will enable the labour market to achieve an optimum balance between job providers and job seekers,
• monitor the evolution of the labour market,
• ensure that legislation on labour market issues is applied such as foreseeing unemployment and taking appropriate measures, taking actions to provide for the re-training of workers,
• organise vocational guidance to ensure integration of both young people and adults into the labour market
• oversee the integration of the handicapped into work,
• organise the recruitment and placement of foreign workers,
• and keep in contact with similar organisations abroad.

• the unemployed;
• registered apprentices;
• Women returners.

A The Vocational guidance service of the Employment Administration

The oldest guidance service is that now found in the Employment Administration. It was legally established in 1945 as part of the creation of a national Office of Labour. It underwent a major reform in 1976 when the Employment Administration was created. Its role concerning guidance is defined as follows:

• To help individuals in choosing their vocation and occupational career.
• To advise those to be trained and to negotiate places of vocational training.

B Service de la Formation des adults S.F.A

Given a legal status in 1991 under the Ministry of Education the S.F.A provides for adult training and it also gave a legal statute to the Centre de Langues which provides much of the adult language training.

The programme of life-long learning is run by the Ministry of Education and has increased in importance as the recognition of the need for skills up-grading become more evident.

The service defines its tasks as follows:

• To help qualified persons develop their professional skills as the economy and technology require
• To offer to both employed and unemployed persons an accelerated course to enhance their qualifications
• To support and elaborate the proposals made by the professional chambers concerning the apprenticeship programmes offered in the workplace

This is a new institution, which has been established to regroup some of the existing services namely:

• Centre d'information professionelle Beruffs informatiouns-Zentrum BIZ
• The Psychological and Educational Guidance Centre (CPOS)
• The Psychological and Educational Guidance Service (SPOS)

i) BIZ -- an audio, computer, document resource centre

The Biz is a service open to both young people and adults who wish to follow a vocational training course, be it initial or continuing. The centre has an extensive range of reference material in all forms, which provide information on a wide variety of jobs and the associated training required. The service is free and open on all working days, and will also respond to e-mail requests.

ii) The Psychological and Education Guidance Centre (CPOS)

The CPOS was given a formal statute in 1987 and its services are directed primarily at school leavers, but it also provides a useful resource centre for people looking for tertiary education or training. Its functions are defined as:

• To provide psychological and educational guidance to pupils in the secondary, technical secondary and complementary sectors and to collaborate in the guidance of pupils in the 6th class of primary school.
• To help pupils with their choices for higher study as well as at school and to provide help through out their school career.
• To help young persons make the transition from school to working life.

iii) The Psychological and Educational Guidance Service (SPOS)

Again while not strictly an adult service the SPOS plays an essential part in the country's guidance service and forms part of the CNR. The services of the SPOS are a part of the CPOS and as such may be considered the part of the service working directly in the schools. Briefly the service has, together with the schools, the following tasks:

• To participate and collaborate, in an advisory capacity, to provide information and guidance to pupils.
• To identify and diagnose pupils' learning difficulties and to propose appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures.
• To provide adequate psychological and educational counselling for pupils, if necessary, in co-operation with other agencies and experts.
• To provide, in a general way, advice to pupils, parents and teachers on all aspects of the psychological development of the young person and its influence on the learning process.

D Apprenticeship Advisory Service

The Apprenticeship Advisory Service is not a guidance service in the conventional sense. It does however play an important role in counselling and advising young people on apprenticeships. In particular the service provides a strong link between guidance services and the social partners.

The service's primary aim is to contribute to the improvement of practical training. This is done through information and advice given both to employers and apprentices. Recommendations are made to employers concerning appropriate teaching methods for practical training, and apprentices are provided with information and advice to help them achieve their goals.

Non-Statutory Provisions

i) Private services

One of the main private services is the Centre de Psycholgie Appliquée. The centre offers a private fee paying service that is staffed by psychologists from France, Belgium and Luxembourg. In addition to more traditional guidance services the centre also offers a staff recruitment service and works with companies on out-placement projects.

In recent years there has also been a growth of guidance offered by recruitment agencies. These agencies in an attempt to achieve better matches in job placements have begun to offer guidance as a precursor to placement.

ii) Voluntary groups – Charitable organisations

Services directed at specific groups

While all the above services are gender neutral and services are offered to all persons seeking careers advice there are some services which have been developed specifically to help a particular group. In the main these services are destined for women with few or no qualifications; women who are qualified tend to rely on more informal structures and networks for guidance needs. Just a few of such services are described below.

Centre de Formation pour femmes, familles et familles Monoparental (CFFM)

The CFFM works with women and one-parent families. It has received funding from the EU initiative NOW (New Opportunities for Women) and its efforts are directed at helping women in the field of vocational training. This will usually involve guidance services in the form of group discussions or individual interviews helping women to enter the labour force in a progressive way. Most of the CFFM clients are women either returning to work or having little work experience and being poorly qualified.

Femmes en Détresse

Femmes en Détresse was founded in 1979. Its main objective is to establish and manage refuges for women wanting to escape domestic violence. Alongside this primary goal there is also a longer-term objective, which is to help women integrate into economic and social life and guarantee them psychological, legal and social support to do this.

In the framework of the European Structural Fund a project entitled NAXI was started with the objective of improving equal opportunities in the field of employment. NAXI is an initiative of Femmes en détresse and is funded by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the European Union. The project offers counselling and guidance to women together with the possibility of following a number of courses with are job orientated.

Initiative Rëm Schaffen

Initiative Rëm Schaffen (Initiative re-travailler) was founded in 1988. It is funded by the Ministry for Women, the Ministry of Labour and the European Union. It is destined for women returners and offers guidance and information on the conditions of the labour market and all questions relating to job seeking.

L'association Zarabina – Initiaven fir Fraën

L'association Zarabina is another initiative which is in part funded by the European Union Social Fund and the employment funds of two cantons of the Grand Duchy. The objective of the association is to incorporate equal opportunities in local and regional development strategies. In addition it develops new training methods in order to respond to future labour market demands. Within its activities the association offers individual guidance and training to women desirous of (re)integrating into the labour market.

iii) Local authority Provision

Le service à la condition Féminine de la commune de Bettenbourg

This is another project run as part of Objective 2 of the Social Fund and is regionally based. Its principle aim is to promote equal opportunities at a regional level. It offers guidance, training and a documentation centre in order to help women find work in the region. While Bettenbourg is one of the most established there exists an increasing number of local authority services targeted specifically at women.

The social partners have always played an important role in the provision of guidance services; this begins with the service for apprenticeship, where the various professional chambers have a statutory role to play both in the apprenticeship-training programme and in the associated guidance service. This statutory relationship ensures that both government departments and the social partners remain in dialogue over labour market needs and thus play a valuable part in the provision of guidance.

The major trade unions have branches which represent specific sub-groups, frequently industry-specific, but it should be underlined that these sections are primarily concerned with working conditions rather than guidance per se. If they engage in the guidance debate it is related to redundancy counselling and re-training rather than career advancement in the workplace.

In one area there has been some significant progress and that concerns the development of women managers in family-run businesses. Here the social partners have been very active in providing guidance and counselling to women in order to develop their management skills and hence lifting them from general office tasks into proper company management.

The Provision of Vocational Guidance and Learning Opportunities for Low-paid Workers

ADEM with its statutory requirement of assuring the application of legislation concerning employment is a key player in guidance; it plays a very active role with the unemployed offering training and guidance over an extended period (up to a year), but it is not concerned with those already in employment, low-paid or otherwise.

The initiative for providing life-long learning resides principally with the Ministry of Education, the various professional chambers and, in less frequent circumstances, the large employers. Small companies frequently struggle to ensure even the statutory on-the-job training, as for example required by certain EU Directives.

The Ministry of Education allocates a large proportion of its funds to the Language Centre, which bearing in mind the very heterogeneous composition of the labour force is indispensable. Courses are also run by:

• Local authorities
• Professional chambers
• OLAP, the office for productivity
• Unions – generally on workers rights. Collective agreements negotiated between employers and employees sometimes integrated training as part of the agreement.
• Large employers may run numeracy and literacy courses
• Charitable organisations attempt to promote the low-skilled by offering courses to, for example, develop management skills

We see very little in the way of a pro-active service; clients in employment need to be self-motivated and seek out the opportunities.

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