Retirement pushed further back as working years increase in Luxembourg

People in Luxembourg are working on average 3.1 years longer before retiring today than they did ten years ago, figures published by eurostat have confirmed.

It means that today people should expect to have to be active in the labour market for 33.5 years before they can retire, up from 30.4 years ten years ago.

Working life duration refers to the number of years a person aged 15 is expected to be active (either employed or unemployed) in the labour market throughout his or her life.

The Grand Duchy experienced the third largest increase to the average duration of working life of any EU member state, behind Malta (+5.1 years) and Hungary (+4.2 years).

Across the European Union, the average working life duration rose by two years to 35.4 years, which is still higher than the working years a person would have to put in in Luxembourg.

The overall increase in working life duration was driven across all member states by the change in women’s working life, which increased in Luxembourg by 4.7 years. It means that women today must work 31 years before retiring, up from 26.3 ten years ago.

The report stresses that the data refers to resident population irrespective of the country where they work. Therefore, it suggests there could be a significant difference in countries with large cross-border worker flows like Luxembourg.