Fewer and fewer cross -border commuters work in the home office

The Fondation Idea took a close look at the Luxembourg job market. The home office wave triggered by the covid pandemic has now been subsided. There are big differences between Luxembourgers and border goers.

In the second quarter of 2020, the home work in Luxembourg achieved a historic high. With 52 percent, more than half of all employees worked from home. The numbers decreased in 2021. At that time, only around 20 percent of all employees worked from home. Striking: The proportion of cross -border commuters from France was 23 percent higher than that of Luxembourgers.

The home office content is still higher than before the pandemic

A lot has happened since 2021. After the pandemic, the number of home workers decreased significantly – and then climbing again. In 2024, 20 percent of the Luxembourg employees once again worked from home.

With the border guards, the decline was clearer and more sustainable. Today, only three percent of employees from Belgium, Germany and France work from home. The Fondation IDEA attributes this partly to administrative and tax obstacles. Because every cross -border commuter who works more than 34 days a year from home is taxable in his home country. In the case of social security contributions, the limit is 50 percent.

However, it could be significantly more if the legal options were exhausted. Theoretically, more than half of the activities of border guards could be done from home. « If the proportion of home workers among the border guards were just as high as among the locals, 45,000 instead of 6,800 people would work from home, » said the Fondation Idea.

Home office is still popular with employees. According to Idea, the decline has already led to some companies lost workers. « That could increase in the future. »