LIVING AND WORKING IN LUXEMBOURG THE GRAND-DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE A FAVORABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT MOVING TO LUXEMBOURG EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN LUXEMBOURG HEALTH, MATERNITY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD LIFESTYLE THE GRAND-DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE A FAVORABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT MOVING TO LUXEMBOURG EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN LUXEMBOURG HEALTH, MATERNITY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD LIFESTYLE 2 Living and working in Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG: THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE 3 Luxembourg: the crossroads of Europe One of Luxembourg’s main advantages is its geographical location. It sits in the heart of Western Europe, between France, Belgium and Germany, in close proximity to a number of large cities. Indeed, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Zürich and Berlin are all just one hour away by plane. Luxembourg’s Findel airport is located 15 minutes from Luxembourg City center, making it possible to quickly reach over 60 destinations in Europe and North Africa. Several daily flights connect Luxembourg to London, Frankfurt and Paris, providing a quick and easy connection to Europe’s most important financial centers. The country has excellent road and rail infrastructure. The railway net- work is efficient and extremely well-connected to the large European hubs, making traveling to Paris, Frankfurt or Brussels simple. Paris is only two hours and ten minutes from Luxembourg on the East European High Speed line. Luxembourg is an EU capital, where several high-ranking European institutions are based. These include European Court of Auditors, Eu- ropean Investment Bank (EIB), European Investment Fund (EIF), the Secretariat-General of the European Parliament and various departments of the European Commission, European Court of Justice, and European General Court, as well as the European Office of Statistics (Eurostat) and Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Finally, Luxembourg also hosts the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the Eu- ropean Union and the European Free Trade Association Court. Inaugurated in 2008, the new terminal of the Luxembourg airport has a capacity of 3 million passengers thanks to its 26 check-in desks, 18 doors and 5 boarding bridges. 4 Living and working in Luxembourg A FAVORABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT 5 A favorable socio-economic context As a constitutional monarchy with a particularly open economy, Luxembourg combines social and political stability with a relatively low rate of unemployment, multicultural workforce and strong government initiatives to diversify activities. This is demonstrated in the government’s active support of research projects and its investment incentive policies. A home to 170 nationalities The diverse origins of Luxembourg’s population make the country re- markably unique. Almost 46% of Luxembourg residents are of foreign origin, accounting for 258,700 people out of a total population of 563,000 (STATEC, es- timate on 1 January 2015). In the capital, the percentage of foreigners reaches nearly 69%. The most highly represented foreign communities in Luxembourg are: _ Portuguese (92,100 people) _ French (39,400) _ Italian (19,500) _ Belgian (18,800) _ German (12,800) One of the essential characteristics of Luxembourg’s integration model is that there are virtually no intercultural tensions despite the high percent- age of foreign residents. Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedecine - Esch-sur-Alzette The technoport situated in Esch-sur-Alzette is comprised of an incubator for technological start-up, a space dedicated to co-working and a laboratory for manufacturing prototypes. 6 Living and working in Luxembourg A country widely open to the world The unique demography of Luxembourg, together with its geographical location, exerts considerable influence on the employment market. The foreign workforce, which accounts for 71% of domestic employment in Luxembourg, is partly the result of immigration (foreign residents), bol- stered by a high percentage of “border workers” (42%), who commute to Luxembourg each day from their country of residence. Daily flows of the cross-border workers (Source: Report on the Economic and Social Situation of the Greater Region 2013/14) 39.090 37.640 400 210 400 75.400 The Luxembourg economy, similar to those of other small countries, is very much outward-looking. TheKOF Index of Globalization 2015, pub- lished by ETH Zurich, ranks Luxembourg as third in the “economic glo- balization” category, behind Singapore (first) and Ireland) (second). The ranking takes into account the international trade and commerce in these countries, as well as existence of any trade barriers. Luxembourg exports more than 80% of its production of goods and ser- vices. A sound framework of policy incentives also attracts a great deal of foreign investment. Indeed, large industrial and commercial groups have relocated their production and distribution centers to Luxembourg. 7 A favorable socio-economic context An efficient and diversified production apparatus The country has a strong industrial tradition, evident from the presence of large international offices on its soil. Luxembourg hosts a diverse range of industries, including those of steel and metal processing, chemicals, mate- rials and plastics, electricity, and electronics. Altogether, they account for roughly 7% of the GDP and 9% of domestic employment. Structurally, the Luxembourg economy is dominated by the services sec- tor (accounting for 82% of the GDP, 80% of exports and 79% of the jobs), The services sector dominates the Luxembourg economy, accounting for 82% of GDP, 80% of exports, and 79% of jobs. This trend derived from the remarkable growth of the financial market towards the late twentieth century, and it continues to play a significant role today. Indeed, with its 143 banking institutions, Luxembourg is the 8th largest international fi- nancial market and has the second largest number of investment funds in the world behind the US. Luxembourg is additionally the largest provider of private banking services in the Eurozone. In order to adapt with evolv- ing demands, Luxembourg continues to diversify its financial sector by developing micro and Islamic finance, in addition to philanthropic and socially responsible investment. Aware of the risks associated with an excessively monolithic economic structure, Luxembourg public authorities have adopted a multi-special- ization strategy, which has brought about the rapid expansion of some sectors of the tertiary economy. For example, the transportation logistics sector, a sector composed of 13,000 employees across 780 companies, is partnering at large with city transportation logistics to spearhead new in- novations in optimizing the transportation of goods and people around urban areas using green and other highly added-value technologies. Infor- mation Technology (IT), communications sectors (e.g. SES, RTL Group, Microsoft, Siemens, Skype, iTunes, Amazon), and the media, in addi- tion to new health technologies and green engineering are other venues of diversification for the Luxembourg economy. To support this effort, Luxembourg is investing heavily in research and development and in the promotion of innovation, as illustrated by the recent expansions of the University of Luxembourg and other public research centers such as the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, and Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research. 8 Vivre et travailler au Luxembourg One of the highest standards of living in the world Although prices are fairly similar to those in neighboring countries (France, Belgium, Germany), income per capita is much higher in Luxem- bourg. Consequently, purchasing power parity in Luxembourg is among the highest in the world. Gross national income per capita based on Norway purchasing power parity in 2014 Luxembourg Netherlands (Luxembourg = base 100) Sweden (Source: AMECO) Denmark Austria Germany Belgium Ireland Finland United Kingdom France European Union Italy Spain Portugal Greece 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Furthermore, the quality of life in Luxembourg is among the most highly rated not only in Europe but in all developed countries as well. TheQual - ity of Living Survey 2015, conducted by Mercer Consulting, ranked Lux- embourg City 19th out of 230 cities worldwide. The internationalGlobal Liveable Cities Index (GLCI) 2014, a study based on economic, environ- mental and aesthetic criteria, ranked Luxembourg the sixth nicest place (out of 64) to live and work. The same study also highlighted the particularly low crime rate in Luxem- bourg, which classifies it as one of the safest cities in the world. 9 A favorable socio-economic context European Convention Center, Social and political stability Luxembourg-Kirchberg The near absence of strikes in Luxembourg is thanks to an effective sys- tem of mediation between management representatives, workers’ unions and the government, known as “Tripartite”. Tripartite meetings involve representatives from each of the above three groups, where participants, in cases of disputes or economic problems of a cyclical or structural na- ture, attempt to reach an agreement on all matters concerning employ- ment relations and social guarantees. Nationally, the political system has demonstrated great stability. Politics in Luxembourg are traditionally dominated by three major parties: the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), the Democratic Party (DP), and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP). Following early legis- lative elections