Luxembourg: a snapshot of digital skills

Introduction

In the 2024 edition of the Digital Decade report, Luxembourg has achieved 60.1% basic digital skills coverage, despite the slight decline from 2023 (63.8%) is still way above the EU average of 55.6%. This puts Luxembourg at 75.2% of the overall target for the EU 2030 goal, which aims to have 80% of the EU population possess at least basic digital skills.

According to the Digital Decade report 2024, Luxembourg performs better than the EU average in both digital skills indicators. The percentage of ICT specialists in employment has surpassed the EU average, increasing from 7.7% (2023) to 8,0% in 2024 (EU average – 4.8%).

In 2023 the Ministry of Digitalisation published the study “Digital Inclusion. An identification of the factors behind the digital divide” which is one of the initiatives foreseen in the National Plan for Digital Inclusion. Study states that in 2022, 1.5% of the residents surveyed had never used the Internet and 0.5% had used the Internet more than three months ago. The 2% of residents who do not use the internet or hardly at all are mostly women, people aged 50 and over or people with a lower level of education.

The study identifies 3 groups of Internet users: heavy Internet users (32%), medium users (40%) and low users (28%). In the “low users” group:

• 20% feel a high level of stress as a result of using the Internet (compared to 14% in the survey population),
• 24% consider that the Internet makes life more complicated (compared to 14% in the survey population),
• 60% are bothered by the fact that some administrative services are only available online (compared to 43% in the survey population),
• 55% say they are not autonomous in using the Internet (compared to 42% in the study population).

The Digital Skills and Jobs platform in Luxembourg is the « one-stop shop » for all training and news on digital skills and opportunities in Luxembourg. It was launched in 2017 by joint efforts of several national Ministries and in collaboration with the European Commission aiming to sharing and promoting digital skills initiatives to encourage matchmaking, support growth and increase outreach. Among the Coalition members are government institutions, as well as information and communication technology businesses, international consultancy companies and non-governmental organisations involved in digitals skills training and employability activities. Since 2019, WIDE, Women in Digital Empowerment Luxembourg is coordinating partner of the Coalition.

Overview of state strategies and national initiatives

State strategies

Luxembourg National Action Plan for Digital Inclusion 2021 presents the concerted approach to address varied and manifold challenges (What are the priorities in terms of digital inclusion? Which solutions could be put in place) as well as the strategic levers. The government has devised this action plan to promote the inclusion of all citizens in the ongoing digital transformation in order to combat the negative effects of the digital divide on society. The Ministry for Digitalisation is leading an inter-ministerial working group that is analysing various aspects of digital inclusion and implementing coordinated actions to meet identified requirements. In addition, to ensure exhaustive consideration of the challenges posed by digital inclusion and the provision of appropriate solutions, the Ministry for Digitalisation has solicited input from a wide range of non-government stakeholders active in this field.

5G strategy for Luxembourg defines the general framework for the deployment of the 5G network. Since the introduction of the strategy, the Department of Media, Connectivity and Digital Policy (SMC) and the Government’s “Digital Luxembourg” initiative have been actively committed to promoting and fostering innovative 5G solutions and actions on multiple levels. This commitment is demonstrated by the Call for Projects I and Call for Projects II, in which retained 5G projects received financial support from the SMC. The strategy helped set a framework for the allocation of spectrum and the overall facilitation of 5G deployment at the national level. The complete strategy and the related background documentation are available on the “Digital Luxembourg” platform.

National initiatives

Luxembourg’s Recovery and Resilience Plan has a digital share of 31.6% contributing to the development of skills by investing €6.5 million in two vocational training programmes, “Digital Skills” and “Futureskills”, which aim to develop digital and managerial skills among job seekers. In addition, the plan includes the “Skillsdsch” reform to design training programmes for the most prospective job profiles. The single digital register for health professions and the reform redefining the competencies, duties, and responsibilities of healthcare professionals will aid in predicting shortages of healthcare professionals. The plan also includes investments amounting to €12.7 million in the modernisation of the public administration and digitalisation of public services so that people and firms can more easily access these services.

Luxembourg’s recovery and resilience plan includes an investment to Digitalise the National Employment Agency (ADEM) to address the challenges arising from the major changes affecting the labour market. The objective of this investment is to digitalise the Agency for the Development of Employment (ADEM) by upgrading its IT resources. This will increase the efficiency of ADEM notably by speeding up processes within the organisation, creating a more personalised approach and improving the execution and control of financial assistance to beneficiaries.

With an investment of 1.5 million euros, the FutureSkills programme assists job-seekers enter the labour market by equipping them with relevant soft, digital, and managerial skills via online learning and apprenticeships. Even though the Recovery and Resilience Plan project has been concluded, new job seekers continue to benefit from the e-learning licences acquired as part of the project.

MyGuichet is an application for administrative proceedings between the public administrations and citizens and businesses. With the Recovery and Resilience  investment of EUR 0.86 million, new services are gradually added to the app, including applications for state aid or hunting permits. In the second half of 2023, the app will offer virtual appointments.

Funding opportunities

Funding opportunities for upskilling and reskilling to support the digital competences of individuals and organizations are available in form of loans, grants and financial instruments. For the period 2021 – 2026 most of the activities in digital transformation are financed through Recovery and Resilience facility but also as activities in Horizon, Erasmus+, ESIF and EEA grant schemes. You may find more on the page of Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition of Luxembourg and in the article on the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.