Agefi Luxembourg - juillet août 2026

Juillet / Août 2026 35 AGEFI Luxembourg Droit & Emploi S elon leGlobal Entrepreneur­ shipMonitor (GEM) Luxem­ bourg 2025/2026, l’activité entrepreneuriale auLuxembourg est restée globalement stable en 2025, malgré un environnement économique international de plus enplus incertain. Si l’activité de création d’entreprises en phase de démarrage enregistre un léger recul par rapport à 2024, les intentions entrepreneuriales demeurent parmi les plus élevées en Europe. Dans le même temps, les entrepreneurs expriment des préoccupations croissantes concernant l’accès au financement ainsi que ladégra­ dation de l’environnement économique mondial. Une activité entrepreneuriale globalement stable En 2025, la part des résidents impliqués dans une nouvelle activité entrepreneu­ rialeestpasséede9,9%en2024à9,4%.Le taux d’activité entrepreneuriale en phase dedémarragerestelégèrementinférieurà la moyenne européenne, tout en demeu­ rantprochedesesniveauxhistoriques.La craintede l’échec reste relativement faible, mais 42 % des personnes percevant des opportunités commerciales déclarent hé­ siter à se lancer pour cette raison. Par ail­ leurs, 36%des entrepreneurs enphasede démarrage anticipent une croissanceplus faible de leur activité, unniveau élevé par rapport aux autres pays étudiés. L’IAperçue comme stratégique L’intelligence artificielle continue d’être perçue comme un levier stratégique par les entrepreneurs luxembourgeois. Un tiers d’entre eux la considère comme essentielle à leur modèle économique. Toutefois, les perceptions évoluent : seuls 24%anticipentunimpactfortementposi­ tif de l’IA sur la croissance de leur entre­ prise, contre 47 % auparavant. En paral­ lèle, les inquiétudes liées à la sécurité et à la confidentialité des données reculent, touchant désormais 45 % des entrepre­ neurs enphase de démarrage. Un engagement durable toujours présent Malgré un léger recul, les entrepreneurs luxembourgeois restent engagés en matière de développement durable. La part de ceux mettant en œuvre des mesures à impact social positif recule à 45 %, contre 56 % en 2024, tandis que celle liée à la réduction de l’impact envi­ ronnemental passe de 61 % à 53 %. Le Luxembourg conserve néanmoins des niveaux supérieurs à la moyenne euro­ péenne dans ces domaines. L’accès aufinancement devient un obstaclemajeur L’enquête met en évidence une dégrada­ tion notable des conditions de finance­ ment.52%desentrepreneursenphasede démarragesignalentdesdifficultésd’accès aufinancement,enfaisantl’undesprinci­ paux obstacles à la création d’entreprise, aux côtés du coût des locaux et de la dis­ ponibilité demaind’œuvre qualifiée. Lesfinancementsproviennentprincipale­ ment de l’épargne personnelle et de sources informelles, telles que la famille et les amis, tandis que le recours aux finan­ cements institutionnels reste limité aux premières étapes de développement. Une incertitude internationale de plus enplus pesante Pour la première fois, le rapport GEM Luxembourg analyse l’impact perçudes évolutions internationales enmatière de commerce et de politiques migratoires. Les entrepreneurs anticipent une hausse des coûts de production, une réduction des sources de financement et un accès plus difficile aux marchés étrangers. 40 % d’entre eux s’attendent à une aug­ mentation des coûts, contre seulement 20%qui anticipent uneamélioration. Ces préoccupations sont particulièrement forteschezlesentreprisesorientéesversles marchés horsUnion européenne. Profils et caractéristiques des entrepreneurs Le Luxembourg se distingue par une part plus faibled’entrepreneuriatmotivé par la nécessité, avec 36 %des entrepre­ neurs déclarant avoir créé leur entre­ prise faute d’alternative professionnelle, contre 58 % en moyenne dans l’Union européenne. L’écart entre les sexes se réduit mais de­ meure:en2025,7,2%desfemmessontac­ tives dans l’entrepreneuriat en phase de démarrage, contre 11,5 % des hommes. Les personnes issues de l’immigration présentent une propension plus élevée à entreprendre(10,5%)quelesnatifs(7,5%). Source : STATEC Les entrepreneurs luxembourgeois résistent à l’incertitude mondiale é P 2025) 3102 ( é P eymo (gruombexuL gruobmexuL noitalupPo% 202 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 68. 98. 2025) –310 2enn 2025 2024 2023 2 310. .49 sneporu esya – enneymo sneporu esay Taux total d’activité entrepreneuriale en phase de démarrage (%de la population) Source :RapportGEM20252026 T he EUPayTransparencyDirective introduces a new level of visibi­ lity, accountability and enforcea­ bility aroundpay decisions.With the 7 June 2026 transpositiondeadline now passed, employers shouldmove from awareness to practical readiness: for any payrelateddecision, firmswill increasingly need clear criteria, reliable data and documentedprocesses to ex­ plainhowpay is set, how roles are compared andhow differences are justified. The challengewill therefore not only be producing paygap fi­ gures. Organizationswill need transparent recruitment practices, clearly documented job architecture and consistent pay governance to explainhow pay decisions aremade and applied. What is changing for employers in the EU? Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value is not a newprinciple in the EU; however, the EUPay Transparency Directive is changing the level of transparency andevidence nowexpected fromem­ ployers. Its aim is to strengthen the application of equal pay practices between genders and levels by addressing vague paysetting, unmeasured pay gaps andpractices that allowdisparities topersist (1) . In practice, the directive intervenes at specific points in the employment relationship, from re­ cruitment and paysetting to information rights, reporting and remediation. This means employ­ ers will need to review how pay ranges are com­ municated, how roles and progression criteria are defined, how worker requests are handled and how any unjustified pay gap is followed up. These obligations reflect the broader policy objec­ tive of moving from principle to evidence: while equal pay is already established in EU law, pay differences continue to persist in practice. In 2024, the unadjusted gender pay gap in the EU stood at 11%, although the situation varies between Member States, with Luxembourg recording the lowest figure at 0.8% (2) . The directive applies across the public and private sectors in the EU and covers workers with an em­ ployment contract or employment relationship, while also introducing specific transparency rights for job applicants. Several obligations are important to keep in mind. First, recruitment processes will need to become more transparent. Employers must provide ap­ plicants with information on the pay or pay range for the position, either in the vacancy notice or be­ fore the interview. Recruitment ads will need to use genderneutral language, and employers will no longer be allowed to ask candidates about their salary history. This is intended to help candidates negotiate based on the value of the role, rather than past remuneration. Second, the directive also secures the right to in­ formation for employees during employment . Theymay request information on their individual pay level and on average pay levels, broken down by gender and for categories of workers perform­ ing the same work or work of equal value. This will require employers to be able to identify com­ parable categories of workers and to respond to requests in a structured and reliable way by, for example, defining a documented paysetting pol­ icy covering the criteria for pay, progression and bonuses, and establishing a process to handle in­ formation requests. A third area concerns gender paygap reporting . The directive sets phased reporting timelines: em­ ployers with 250 or more workers are required to report annually from 7 June 2027; employers with 150 to 246 workers will report every three years, also starting in 2027. Employers with 100 to 149 workers will also be required to report every three years, starting 7 June 2031. Employers will need to publish a range of genderpay gap indicators, in­ cluding mean and median pay gaps, information on variable pay, workforce distribution across pay quartiles and paygap data by category of workers performing the same work or work of equal value. Finally, the directive enforces a joint pay assess­ ment where reporting reveals a categorylevel gen­ der pay gap of 5% or more that is not justified on the basis of objective, genderneutral criteria. The key question here will be whether the gap can be objectively justified and, where it cannot, whether appropriate assessment and remediationprocesses are in place. The operational challenge behind transparency Beyond reporting obligations, the directive re­ shapes how organizations document pay, and whether there is a sound underlying job architec­ ture, quality data, clear criteria, governance and communication. Employers will need more than a commitment to fair pay; they will need the structures, criteria and evi­ dence to demonstrate how pay decisions are made. Readiness should therefore focus first on role comparability: whether job families, levels and grades are clearlydefined, andwhether they allow the organization to compare work of equal value using criteria such as skills, responsibility, effort andworking conditions. Data is the second key chal­ lenge . Employers will need reli­ able and accessible HR, payroll and workforce data, including information on variable pay and benefits, to support reporting obli­ gations and respond to employee information requests. For many firms, thiswill require better data consolidation and gov­ ernance to ensure that information can be retrieved efficiently and consistently. Finally, organizations should define clear gover­ nance for reviewing pay gaps , assessing whether differences are objectively justified and document­ ing any remediation decisions. This is where pay transparency becomes not only a legal orHR topic, but a broader question of explainable and account­ able pay governance. What does this mean for Luxembourg? While the transposition deadline has passed, the Ministry of Labor recently indicated that a draftbill is still being finalized and is expected to be pre­ sented to labor representatives during the second half of 2026 before proceeding through the legisla­ tive process (3) . For Luxembourgbased employers, thismeans two things. First, organizations should continue mon­ itoring national developments , as national trans­ position will determine the local enforcement model, the competent authorities and any other specificities. Second, Member States aremoving at different speeds and introducing different imple­ mentation approaches, so multinational employ­ ers should be proactive and monitor EUlevel developments to ensure compliance. Even where national rules are still being finalized, the direction is clear: employers will be increas­ ingly expected to explain pay decisions in a struc­ tured, evidencebased way. What employers should do now For employers, readiness should start before na­ tional rules are finalized, with the focus on putting the right processes, data and governance in place. Agood starting point is to map the organization’s EU footprint : which entities are in scope, inwhich geographies, howmanyworkers they employ and when reporting obligations are likely to apply. From there, employers should test whether their job architecture is robust enough to support trans­ parency. In practice, this means checking whether job families, grades and levels are clearly docu­ mented, comparable and based on objective, gen­ derneutral criteria. Data should come next. Before the first reporting deadlines or employee information requests arise, organizations should run a dryrun paygap anal­ ysis to identifymissing data , inconsistent classifi­ cations and areas where paysetting criteria may need to be better documented. This should cover not only fixed pay, but also variable pay, bonuses, allowances and benefits where relevant. Another area employers should prioritize is re­ cruitment process. Salary ranges, job descriptions and interview processes should be reviewed so that candidates receive clear pay information at the right stage, while salaryhistory questions are re­ moved from the process. Internally, pay transparency will introduce a new type of employee conversation andwill demand amore structured approach to employee informa­ tion requests. Pay information requests will re­ quire clear ownership, reliable data extraction, review controls and consistent communication. HR teams andmanagers should therefore prepare early, so that responses are consistent and sup­ ported by reliable data. Finally, employers should build the underlying governance and review internal controls. The di­ rective makes pay a shared responsibility across functions involved in reward, governance, report­ ing and employee representation. The more con­ crete and documented a pay decision, the more resilient it is likely to be. A shift towards accountability These changes point to a broader shift in the labor market: the directive is a catalyst for more struc­ tured and explainable pay governance. Organiza­ tions that start by objectifying roles, documenting pay criteria and testing their data will be well placed to respond to employee questions, meet regulatory expectations and build confidence in how pay decisions are made. Ultimately, the organizations best prepared for pay transparency will be those that can show not onlywhat people are paid, but why pay decisions are made. Vanessa MÜLLER, EY Luxembourg ESG Services and Consulting Banking & Capital Markets Lead Anna ILLARIONOVA, EY Luxembourg Senior Manager, ESG Consulting 1)EUDirective2023/970PayTransparency 2)Eurostat,Genderpaygapstatistics(unadjusted) 3)Luxembourgtranspositionstatus Pay transparency in the EU: New rules for equal pay in the workplace