The number of French cross-border workers working in Luxembourg continues to increase. In 2023, according to Statec figures, there were 122,889 and could reach 160,000 in 2040, according to the Lorraine-Nord Urban Planning and Sustainable Development Agency (Agape).
However, faced with the difficulties encountered in transport and in search of a better quality of life, more and more Lorraine cross-border workers are considering leaving their Luxembourg jobs to return to France, even if it means losing a much higher salary.
The pandemic has upended workers’ priorities
“The health crisis has changed the professional priorities of individuals, emphasizing the balance between private and professional life,” indicates Julien Dauer, director of the Frontaliers Grand Est association and former cross-border worker.
It is not because we make a choice at the moment that it is blocked or definitive.
Julien Dauer
Director of the Borderiers Grand Est association
He regularly encounters “people who are professionally or physically exhausted” who choose to turn around. For him, “it is not because we make a choice at the moment that it is blocked or definitive. Being a border crosser can be seen in the short, medium or long term: whether you are 20 or 60 years old.
Facilitate the professional mobility of cross-border workers
The Frontaliers Grand Est association, based in Metz, has the mission of facilitating the professional mobility of cross-border workers, whether they are active, aspiring to become one or have already been cross-border workers.
The director of the association specifies that they assist two types of public: those who wish to secure their return to unemployment compensation in France, and those who want to maintain part of their salary activity in Luxembourg while reducing their working hours and supplementing with an activity in France.
Julien Dauer notes that Generation Z, arriving on the job market, is less willing to accept difficult working and transportation conditions. This generation is more likely to choose to stay working in France, even if it means lower pay.
We explain that leaving a job in Luxembourg transfers the right to unemployment to France, and that it is essential to have any resignation plan for professional retraining validated in advance.
Julien Dauer
Director of the Borderiers Grand Est association
The association has several missions, including that of securing unemployment compensation. “We explain that leaving a job in Luxembourg transfers the right to unemployment in France, and that it is essential to validate any resignation plan for professional retraining in advance,” specifies Julien Dauer.
Concerns may arise
The Frontaliers Grand Est association also helps cross-border workers find a job in France, by advising them on writing their CV and cover letter. The association strives to demystify certain taboos, recalling that European law protects workers, which allows flexible careers between Luxembourg and France.
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“People have the impression that you have to work in Luxembourg for 10 years to have a pension and that it is fixed. We try to remind them that European law protects them and that nothing prevents them from pursuing a career in Luxembourg, returning to France and returning there five years later, depending on their professional opportunity.”
When they return to France, concerns may arise: will I find a job? Will I like it? How much will I earn? “For a French company to be able to attract workers from Luxembourg, despite lower pay, it must offer better working conditions,” explains Julien Dauer. “If we take an equal position in France, with a higher salary in Luxembourg without advantages in terms of management, flexibility of hours, teleworking or tolerance of lateness, this will not be enough to retain an employee,” he adds.
