Are you looking for a job, considering a career change, or hesitating between a position in France and one on the other side of the border? As the 2026 back-to-work season begins, data published by the French, Luxembourg, German, Belgian and Swiss public employment services paint a mixed picture: the labour market is slowing down overall, but some sectors continue to recruit heavily on both sides of the border.

In France and the Grand Est: a stabilising labour market, with essential occupations still in high demand

According to France Travail’s 2026 “Workforce Needs” (BMO) survey, published in April, French employers reported nearly 2.28 million recruitment projects for the year, a 6.5% decrease compared with 2025. This slowdown is half as pronounced as last year. Good news for job seekers: recruitment difficulties are falling significantly, with 43.8% of projects considered difficult to fill by employers, compared with 50.1% in 2025.

The Grand Est region stands out as an exception: alongside Brittany, it is one of the regions where hiring intentions are holding up best, with a limited decrease of -1.1% (compared with -6.5% nationwide).

The sectors offering the most opportunities in 2026:

  • Healthcare, social care and personal services: around 320,000 recruitment projects, making it one of the few sectors to see an increase (+0.4%). More than one in two positions (54%) are considered difficult to fill. Healthcare assistants, nurses and home care workers are among the most sought-after profiles: 500,000 positions are expected to become available in this sector by 2030.
  • Accommodation and food services: around 320,000 recruitment projects, with kitchen assistants and multi-skilled employees topping the list of the most sought-after occupations nationwide (97,100 projects).
  • Construction and building: around 143,000 recruitment projects, but the highest recruitment difficulty rate of all sectors (65%), driven by energy renovation projects and major infrastructure works.
  • Industry: the smallest decline among the major sectors (-2.4%), with strong growth in mining, energy and waste management industries (+24.8%). Welders, maintenance technicians and boilermakers are particularly sought after.

It is worth noting that 41% of recruitment projects in 2026 are for permanent contracts (CDIs), with an even higher proportion in the industrial sector.

  • Detailed results by employment area in the Grand Est region (Thionville, Forbach, Sarreguemines, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Saint-Louis, Longwy, etc.) are available at statistiques.francetravail.org/bmo.

In Luxembourg: 20 occupations facing a “severe shortage” in 2026

At the end of March, ADEM published its 2026 list of occupations facing a “severe shortage” (reference year 2025), which was published in the Official Journal. The list now includes 20 occupations, compared with 22 in 2025, 24 in 2024 and 30 in 2023.

The sectors offering the most opportunities remain social care, healthcare, hospitality, and certain specialised administrative and financial positions. The occupations most affected by shortages include early childhood educators, nurses and cooks, alongside specialised financial profiles such as UCITS fund managers and internal auditors.

New additions to the 2026 list include several occupations, particularly in construction and finishing trades (roof installation and restoration), industry (industrial quality management and engineering), and installation and maintenance of industrial equipment. Conversely, accountants, management controllers and organisational consultants have been removed from the list. These occupations remain under pressure, but the imbalance between job vacancies and available candidates has decreased.

For job seekers, however, there is a notable shift in some tertiary-sector fields. According to STATEC, at the beginning of 2026, secretarial/administrative roles, accounting and IT had more job seekers than vacancies — sectors that were previously among the most dynamic in the Grand Duchy.

In Germany: the shortage of skilled workers remains severe

Despite a sluggish economic climate, Germany continues to face a structural shortage of skilled workers. The annual analysis of occupations experiencing labour shortages (“Engpassanalyse”) by the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) identifies around 163 occupations facing shortages, while the number of job vacancies across the country is estimated at more than one million.

The sectors with the highest demand include:

  • Healthcare and nursing (Pflege): nurses, nursing assistants and doctors — demand is structural and directly affects border regions such as Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg.
  • Technical occupations and skilled trades (Handwerk): electricians, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning installers, and construction workers.
  • IT: software development, cloud computing and cybersecurity — IT specialists may even qualify for an EU Blue Card without a formal degree, subject to certain experience requirements.
  • Engineering, transport and logistics.

For French cross-border workers, German language skills remain a decisive factor. Demand is genuine, but German employers require an operational level of German in the vast majority of cases. Recognition of qualifications, particularly in healthcare, must also be anticipated.

In Belgium: 144 occupations facing shortages in Wallonia

On 1 July 2026, Le Forem published its new list of occupations facing shortages: 144 occupations are concerned in Wallonia, including 69 new occupations. However, the methodology has changed this year: the analysis is now based on the Walloon survey on workforce needs and a new “criticality index”, making comparisons with 2025 more difficult.

Construction remains the sector most affected, with 38 occupations facing shortages (bricklayers, roofers, heating engineers, electricians, site managers, architects and energy renovation professionals). This is followed by the technology industry and healthcare and social services, with 19 occupations each. The top occupations according to the criticality ranking clearly reflects this dual focus on healthcare and construction: home helpers, pharmacists, roofers, pharmaceutical technical assistants, family support workers, bus drivers, security officers, nursing assistants, bricklayers and nurses.

In Brussels, Actiris lists 103 critical occupations, ranging from hospitality and catering to insurance, as well as technical and construction-related professions.

For residents of the Ardennes, Meuse or Meurthe-et-Moselle, these lists provide a useful indicator of employment opportunities across the Belgian border — especially since being employed in an occupation facing a shortage can, for job seekers in Belgium, provide access to certain training or employment incentive schemes.

Conclusion

From one end of the Greater Region and the cross-border area to the other, two common trends stand out:

  1. Healthcare and care professions (nurses, nursing assistants, home care workers and educators) are facing shortages everywhere — in France, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. Population ageing makes these occupations relatively “recession-proof”, although entry requirements vary depending on the country (language skills in Germany and Luxembourg, recognition of qualifications and professional licensing).
  2. Construction and technical occupations (roofers, electricians, heating engineers, industrial maintenance technicians and site managers) feature on shortage lists across the region, driven in particular by the need for energy-efficient renovations.

Conversely, shortages are easing in administrative and accounting positions, as well as in some IT occupations, across several labour markets (Luxembourg and Switzerland), due to the combined impact of economic conditions and automation.

Before applying for a job across the border, remember to check the implications of your situation in terms of social security, taxation and unemployment benefits. We are here to answer your questions!