Unemployment in Cyprus stood at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, down from 4.6 per cent a year earlier, according to a report published by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) on Thursday.

The number of unemployed persons was 22,663 (men 11,019, women 11,644), compared with 23,760 (men 10,980, women 12,780) in Q2 2024.

At the same time, the labour force rose to 528,981 people, or 65.4 per cent of the population, up from 511,423 (65.1 per cent) a year earlier.

Moreover, participation among men reached 71.1 per cent, while for women it was 60.0 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons climbed to 506,318, giving an overall employment rate of 62.6 per cent.

This included 269,796 men (68.3 per cent) and 236,522 women (57.2 per cent), compared with 487,663 people in Q2 2024, when the corresponding rates were 67 per cent and 57.5 per cent.

Looking at age groups, for those aged 20–64 the employment rate reached 81.7 per cent, up from 80.1 per cent in the same quarter of last year.

Within this category, 87 per cent of men and 76.5 per cent of women were employed.

Among people aged 55–64, the rate stood at 71.5 per cent, slightly above the 71.1 per cent recorded in Q2 2024.

By sector, most employed people worked in services (81.2 per cent), followed by industry (16.6 per cent) and agriculture (2.2 per cent). The respective figures a year earlier were 81.5, 16.2 and 2.3 per cent.

In terms of working arrangements, 90.6 per cent of employed persons, or 458,893 people, held full-time jobs, while 9.4 per cent, or 47,425 people, were in part-time employment.

A year earlier, part-time workers accounted for 8.9 per cent of the total.

Employees made up 90 per cent of all workers, totalling 455,728 people.

Of these, 85.7 per cent were in permanent jobs and 14.3 per cent, or 65,368 individuals, in temporary posts. In Q2 2024, the share of temporary employees was 14.4 per cent.

As for the self-employed, their number stood at 50,590, representing 10 per cent of total employment, compared with 48,808 (also 10 per cent) a year earlier.

Turning to unemployment by age, youth joblessness remained elevated, with 14.9 per cent of 15–24-year-olds out of work (men 15.8 per cent, women 13.9 per cent), up from 14.2 per cent in Q2 2024.

By contrast, among those aged 25–64, the rate eased to 3.7 per cent, from 4.1 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Finally, when looking at duration, 55.9 per cent of unemployed persons had been seeking work for less than six months, while 23.0 per cent were unemployed for six to eleven months.

Long-term unemployment fell sharply, accounting for 21.1 per cent of the total, compared with 34.5 per cent a year earlier.