Social class in Luxembourg
In the late 1950s, André Heiderscheid outlined the different social classes in Luxembourg as ‘milieu ouvrier’, ‘milieu agricole’, ‘classe moyenne’ and ‘milieu bourgeois’,[3] in other words, working class, which forms the bulk of the working population and is mainly found in the secondary sector; the primary sector or agricultural class, which has seen a significant decrease in the latter half of the twentieth century; and proportionally smaller number of middle class and bourgeoisie. These categories are still applicable on a superficial basis, but social changes and improvements in living conditions in the past sixty years have meant that the working classes or those working within what are described traditionally as ‘lower income’ socioeconomic groups are often now on a par materially with those in traditional ‘middle income groups’, and what were typical ‘working-class’ occupations in terms of income have become more ‘office’ oriented, that is, employment in the tertiary sector. There are groups for whom personal income and access to social welfare pose problems, and poverty, unemployment and homelessness also exist in Luxembourg, although perhaps not to the same extent as in other European countries.
The working classes
Post-war period
At the end of the
1970s to today
The decline of the industrial sector after 1970 saw a downturn in the numbers employed within it, which by 2001 was 3,344 in the
Banking and financial services and service industries in general are now the largest sectors in the Luxembourgish economy and thus the largest employment providers.[8] This situation has caused a considerable increase in temporary migratory work in Luxembourg, where people from Belgium, France and Germany, known as frontaliers, would travel in and out of the country on a daily basis for employment purposes. Frontaliers account for 44.3% of the Luxembourgish working population (2020), of which 23.90% are from Germany, 23.2% from Belgium and 50.2% from France.[9] While not all frontaliers work in the financial sector, as at 2009 there were 10,114 working in this sector, counting for most of their number by several thousand.
The agricultural classes
The
The percentage of workers in agriculture has continued to drop dramatically throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. In 1947 of a total of 134,288 workers in all sectors, there were 30,050 workers in agriculture, reducing to 9,641 in 1970 and by 2001 the number was only 3,321 members of the working population of 185,352. Most farms in Luxembourg are family-owned, but by 1990 the number in this category was 3,768 and by 2020 this number had reduced further to 1,881, with an increase in the amount of group holdings from 41 to 88 from 1990 to 2014.[12] Agricultural activity in Luxembourg is mainly arable, viticulture, dairy and meat farming. The average area per land holding out of 2,042 farms in Luxembourg as at 2020 is 77.9 hectares, but most farms are of 100 ha and above at 521 of their total number, an increase in the amount of larger farms held since 1990, when lands held over 100ha counted at just 106.[13] Another reason for the reduction in farming in Luxembourg is that much of the land has been sold off for construction to meet increasing demands for housing, and as land prices are high, this allows for landowners to benefit significantly from real estate income.
The middle classes and ‘bourgeoisie’
André Heiderscheid described this section of the population in the late 1950s/early 1960s as those who fall into the ‘middle income’ category, such as retailers, artisans, lower framework employees in industry and civil service and technicians, who quite quickly, for material reasons, became part of the general working classes. The ‘bourgeoisie’, according to the same observer, involves those who are employed in the higher levels of civil service, businessmen, and members of the liberal professions (law, medicine, architecture, accountancy, teaching), but where a true bourgeoisie class has had difficulty in full development because of a ‘lack of tradition’.[14] This group accounts for a proportionally small section of the Luxembourgish population, although it has seen considerable growth over time, as in other socio-economic groups, and thus has been able to benefit from the unprecedented growth in the economy in the last sixty years.[15] In 1965, for example, there were 324 doctors and dentists in Luxembourg, and in 2015 the number was 1,379; similarly, the number of those in the legal profession has risen from 130 in 1965 to 1,633 in 2015.
However, one particular group from Heiderscheid's assessment of the middle classes has lost out to economic growth; the individual shop-owner; the arrival of the first supermarket in Walferdange in 1967 seriously affected the livelihoods of the small, artisanal retailers.[16] Relatively new occupations in the tertiary sector such as wealth management, investment advisory services and senior banking positions began developing and allowing for high incomes and standards of living usually associated with ‘traditional’ liberal professions categorised within the middle- and upper-middle classes. Education, especially to tertiary level, and the social mobility that goes with it, has also seen many move up from working class to middle class over the past 50 years.[17]
Latterly, Luxembourg is often seen as synonymous with great wealth, although essentially this accounts for a very small proportion of the population. The Inaugural Wealth Report (2014) published by the Julius Baer Group stated that Luxembourg has the highest proportion of ‘millionaire households’ in Europe, with 22.7% of those in the higher income bracket possessing a net worth of over one million euros; real estate ownership is closely linked to this assertion. In terms of private wealth, Luxembourg also has the highest proportion in Europe, with adults worth on average 432,221 euros, and one third of the country's total private wealth of 31% is owned by just 1% of the richest section of the population, and since 2007, wealth in Luxembourg has grown by 36%, although this rate is low compared to that of Switzerland where the wealth growth rate was 68%.
Unemployment and risk of poverty
Living standards
Current
Risk of poverty
The unemployment rate in Luxembourg is relatively low compared with other European countries. Income inequality and poverty are also less significant on an international scale. In 2020, the unemployed in Luxembourg amounted to 18,700 individuals or 6.3% of the population, 2% higher than ten years previously.[9] Those unemployed for more than a year count for half of individuals without work.[19] In 2016 in terms of job security and social welfare, the expected loss of earnings resulting from unemployment is lower than the OECD average of 6.3% at 2.1%. By exploring median percentages relating to Luxembourg's particular ‘sensitivity’ the poverty line, Allegrezza found that while ‘extreme poverty’ is ‘non-existent’, at the same time there is a relatively important number of the population that is ‘at risk of becoming poor’, in other words, a minor degradation in salary may induce poverty. However, the non-working population, that is, children and the elderly, display divergent results in relation to risk of poverty; the risk to the elderly in Luxembourg has reduced considerably from the 1990s, with a less than 1% incidence of poverty in this demographic group. On the other hand, children in Luxembourg seem to be at a more significant risk with many living in ‘households that are at imminent risk of poverty’, in spite of a comparatively larger social welfare benefit system.[20]
Homelessness
Homelessness is also present in Luxembourg, with a FEANTSA study in 2007 revealing 715 individuals without permanent fixed accommodation. In a 2013 report by the Ministry of Family and Integration, around 30 different nationalities were identified among the homeless users of night shelters. A large proportion at 48% were from Luxembourg, 40% were from other EU member states, mostly France, Portugal or Italy and 12% were other nationalities.
References
- ^ Wey, C., La Société Luxembourgeoise 1944-1974: Une micro-société pendant les ‘trente glorieuses’, in: Forum 103 (1988), p. 16-18.
- ^ Caesteker, F., ‘Belgium and Luxembourg’, in: The Encyclopedia of European Migration and Minorities, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,2007, p.51.
- ^ Heiderscheid, A., Aspects de Sociologie religieuse du Diocèse de Luxembourg, quoted in Fehlen, F., Claude Wey (sous la direction de), Le Luxembourg des années 50, Une société de petite dimension entre tradition et modernité, Publications scientifiques du Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, tome III, Luxembourg 1999, p. 20-22
- ^ Krier, P., Conseil National de Travail, La Première Étape de la Reconstruction Sociale, No. 2, 1944, p.2-4
- ^ Krier, P., van Werveke, G., Conseil National de Travail, La Reconstruction Sociale et Économique du Grande Duché de Luxembourg, Luxembourg 1945, p.12-13.
- ^ Wey, C., "La Société Luxembourgeoise 1944-1974: Une micro-société pendant les ‘trente glorieuses’", in: Forum 103 (1988), p. 16-17.
- ^ "S.A.R. le Grand-Duc héritier et Franz Fayot ont visité les nouvelles installations d'ArcelorMittal à Differdange". meco.gouvernement.lu (in French). March 2021.
- ^ Allgerezza, S, Heinrich, G, and Jesuit, D., "Poverty and income inequality in Luxembourg and the Grande Région", in: Socio-Economic Review (2004), p. 263-283. Luxembourg, STATEC / Ministère des Finances, p. 264.
- ^ a b "Luxembourg in Figures 2021" (PDF). statec.lu. September 2021.
- ^ Service d’ Économie Rurale, (Ed.), Luxembourgish Agriculture: Facts and Figures, Luxembourg, Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection, Luxembourg 2015, p.10.
- ^ Wey, C., "La Société Luxembourgeoise 1944-1974: Une micro-société pendant les ‘trente glorieuses’", in : Forum 103 (1988), p. 17.
- ^ "Agriculture". statistiques.public.lu. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ Service d’ Économie Rurale, (Ed.), Luxembourgish Agriculture: Facts and Figures, Luxembourg, Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection. Luxembourg 2015, p. 12.
- ^ Fehlen, F., Wey C. (sous la direction de), Le Luxembourg des années 50, Une société de petite dimension entre tradition et modernité, Publications scientifiques du Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, tome III, Luxembourg 1999, p. 20-22.
- ^ Wey, C., "La Société Luxembourgeoise 1944-1974: Une micro-société pendant les ‘trente glorieuses’", in: Forum 103 (1988), pp. 17-18.
- ^ Wey, C., La Société Luxembourgeoise 1944-1974: Une micro-société pendant les ‘trente glorieuses’, in: Forum 103 (1988), p. 18.
- ^ Wey, Claude, "Des classes moyennes", in: Forum 116 (1989), p. 21.
- ^ OECD Better Life Index, available at http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/luxembourg/ (accessed on 04.12.2021)
- ^ "Employment offers and demands 2007 - 2020 Table summary". statistiques.public.lu. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ Allgerezza, S, Heinrich, G, and Jesuit, D., 2004, "Poverty and income inequality in Luxembourg and the Grande Région", in: Socio-Economic Review (2004) 2, 263-283. Luxembourg, STATEC/Ministėre des Finances, p. 267.
External links
- Evolution of the Luxembourgish population between 1961 & 2016: http://www.statistiques.public.lu/stat/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=12858&IF_Language=eng&MainTheme=2&FldrName=1&RFPath=69 (accessed on 26 November 2016)
- OECD Better Life Index: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/luxembourg/ (accessed 26 November 2016)
- Ouvriers occupés dans les industries sidérurgique et minière selon la nationalité 1938 - 2001: http://www.statistiques.public.lu/stat/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=12930&IF_Language=eng&MainTheme=2&FldrName=3&RFPath=92 (accessed 26 November 2016)