Strengthening social cohesion in Luxembourg : making efficiency and equity go hand in hand

Luxembourg is a rich and fast-growing country. However, inequality of disposable incomes has trended up modestly over the past decades and relative poverty has risen reflecting mainly the rapid growth of high incomes. The relatively high inequality of market incomes is substantially reduced by large social transfers, but the risk of relative poverty still affects the most vulnerable, such as the young, the less educated, single parents and migrants. At the same time the generous transfer systems tend to reduce work incentives. There is significant room for improvement in the design of the tax and transfer system to enhance work incentives and improve targeting, particularly for the less skilled workers. Reforms that tackle poverty traps would both reduce inequality and improve the labour supply of residents. Strong activation policies are important in getting people to jobs. Job opportunities would also be enhanced by improving education outcomes for pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds and for secondgeneration immigrants. Reducing high repetition rates and better targeting education spending to schools with high shares of vulnerable students would help improve outcomes.