Less than two years since economist Jeremy Rifkin revealed his “Third Industrial Revolution Strategy Study” for Luxembourg industry, it seems its proponents are those with a more comprehensive knowledge of the study and its planned outcomes according to a survey of Luxembourg business leaders conducted by KPMG.

Patrick Wies, Head of Corporates, Industry and Public Sector at KPMG Luxembourg commented: “The research, which examined the views of 49 top decision makers, made clear that the more knowledge the business leaders surveyed had about Rifkin, the more positive their sentiment in relation to the survey was. While the study did expose a knowledge gap, with nearly 80% of those surveyed admitting to having very little knowledge of the impact of the Rifkin study, those more familiar with the study felt positive about the impact of the action groups established based on the research.”

Rifkin may not be front of mind for some business leaders but the testing job market is certainly pertinent to the decision-makers surveyed.

In relation to the job market in Luxembourg, the report found that it is currently an employee`s market with the majority of business leaders identifying finding qualified staff as a challenge. 82% of business leaders surveyed stated that finding qualified staff is somewhat difficult or difficult, leaving only 16% who find the process somewhat easy. These figures reflect an increase from last year indicating a worsening problem and rendering Luxembourg an employee`s market.

Despite the current challenges presented in terms of staffing, business leaders articulated a positive outlook pertaining to the economy in general. When it comes to expectations for the Luxembourg economy in the coming 12 months, the business leaders surveyed remain optimistic with all predicting growth to some extent and no business leaders surveyed anticipating that the economy will contract in the next year.

Although there was a general consensus with regards to the growing state of the economy, there was no such unanimity with regards to defining qualitative growth.

Gilles Poncin, Partner at KPMG Luxembourg, noted that “when assessing how the respondents defined qualitative growth, it became clear that there is a variety of interpretations of the term and therefore a level of confusion about what it actually means. As parliamentary elections approach and the term ‘qualitative growth’ becomes part of the narrative for those campaigning, it is obvious that clarification is needed as to how qualitative growth is defined and why it is relevant to voters.”