Unemployment Benefits in Luxembourg (indemnité de chômage complet)

If you lose your job involuntarily, the National Employment Agency (Agence pour le développement de l'emploi, ADEM) pays the full unemployment benefit (indemnité de chômage complet). It is financed by the Employment Fund (Fonds pour l'emploi). There is no separate unemployment contribution on your payslip: income tax carries a 7–9% surcharge that feeds this fund. Social security contributions and tax are deducted from the benefit. When you have no right to the benefit, or it has run out, the social inclusion income (REVIS) is the last safety net.

Who qualifies

• You are aged 16 to 64, live in Luxembourg, are involuntarily unemployed, and are fit for work, available and willing to accept a suitable job.
• In the 12 months before you register you worked under one or more employment contracts for at least 182 days, for at least 16 hours a week with the same employer.
• Leaving by mutual agreement, an unjustified resignation or dismissal for serious misconduct normally excludes you.
• First register as a jobseeker with ADEM, then apply on MyGuichet.lu within 4 weeks of losing your job.

Amount and duration

• 80% of your previous gross pay, based on the 3 months before unemployment (without a 13th month), or 85% if you have children for whom you receive the tax reduction for children.
• Cap: 2.5 times the social minimum wage; after 182 days of unemployment within a year, 2 times. The social minimum wage is €2,771.33 a month (June 2026), and benefits follow cost-of-living indexation.
• Duration: as many months as you worked in the reference period (for example, 8 months of work gives 8 months of benefit), up to 12 months. Extensions of 6 to 12 months are possible for some people, for example those aged 55 or over, or aged 50 or over with at least 20 years of affiliation to social security.

After the benefit: REVIS

The social inclusion income (revenu d'inclusion sociale, REVIS) is paid by the National Solidarity Fund (Fonds national de solidarité, FNS) to households whose income is below the legal thresholds. As a rule you must be at least 25, live legally in Luxembourg, be registered with ADEM and look for work. Third-country nationals need 5 years of legal residence in the last 20 years or long-term resident status, except family members of Luxembourg, EU, EEA or Swiss nationals and beneficiaries of international protection. The inclusion allowance is built from flat amounts: €972.20 per adult plus €972.20 for shared household costs, with supplements for children (monthly, June 2026).

Common pitfalls for newcomers

• Do not miss the 4-week deadline, and register with ADEM before you apply.
• Resigning or agreeing to end your contract usually means no benefit.
• You must report all earned income to ADEM. Under some conditions, extra income is compatible with the benefit.
• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members cannot receive REVIS during their first 3 months of residence, or while they are looking for work if they came for that reason. This does not apply to workers and their families.

Official guidance: Guichet.lu: unemployment benefit for employees, ADEM: applying for unemployment benefit, Guichet.lu: REVIS, ACD: employment-fund surcharge