Cyprus unemployment fell to 3.6% in the second quarter — 520,763 people are employed

Cyprus’s unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 4.3% a year earlier, the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CyStat) reported. The number of employed people increased by 2.9% to 520,763, compared with 506,318 in the second quarter of 2025.

The number of unemployed people fell by 14.5%, from 22,663 to 19,367. The overall employment rate rose from 62.6% to 63.2%, while the labour force grew by 2.1% to 540,130 people, representing 65.6% of the island’s population.

Women saw the biggest changes. Female employment increased by 4.4% to 246,895 people, the employment rate among women rose from 57.2% to 58.3%, and female unemployment fell from 4.7% to 3.7%. Male employment increased by 1.5% to 273,868 people, while unemployment among men declined from 3.9% to 3.5%.

Young people’s indicators also improved significantly: among those aged 15–24, the unemployment rate fell from 14.9% to 12.2%, while the number of unemployed young people decreased by 20.6% to 3,594. In the main working-age group of 20–64, the employment rate reached 82.8%, compared with 81.7% a year earlier.

The main employer in Cyprus is the services sector, with 426,231 people, or 81.8% of all employed people. Industry employs 84,135 people (16.2%), while agriculture accounts for 10,397 jobs; this was the only sector where employment declined, from 11,306 people a year earlier.

Full-time employment increased by 3.6% to 475,586 people, accounting for 91.3% of all employed people, compared with 90.6% a year earlier. At the same time, the number of temporary contracts increased by 12.1% to 73,306, while their share among employees rose from 14.3% to 15.7%. The number of people looking for work for more than a year fell from 4,792 to 4,084, but their share of total unemployment remained at 21.1%.