Unemployment in Cyprus stood at 4.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, easing from 4.5 per cent a year earlier, according to a report published by the statistical service (Cystat) on Wednesday)..

The number of unemployed persons fell to 21,781, down from 23,073 in Q3 2024, with the rate among men at 3.7 per cent and among women at 4.6 per cent.

At the same time, the labour force rose to 530,992 people, or 65.6 per cent of the population, compared with 516,127 (65.7 per cent) a year earlier.

Participation among men remained at 71.1 per cent, while for women it reached 60.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons increased to 509,211, giving an overall employment rate of 62.9 per cent, slightly above the 62.7 per cent recorded in Q3 2024.

This included 269,513 men (68.5 per cent) and 239,698 women (57.6 per cent).

Looking at age groups, employment among those aged 20–64 reached 81.6 per cent, up from 80.7 per cent a year earlier.

Within this category, the rate for men stood at 86.6 per cent, while for women it was 76.8 per cent. For people aged 55–64, employment came to 70.9 per cent, compared with 71 per cent in Q3 2024.

By sector, most employed persons worked in services (81.4 per cent), followed by industry (16.3 per cent) and agriculture (2.3 per cent).

The respective shares a year earlier were 81.9, 16.2 and 1.9 per cent.

In terms of working arrangements, 91.2 per cent of workers, or 464,604 people, held full-time jobs, while 8.8 per cent, or 44,607, were in part-time employment.

In Q3 2024, the part-time share stood at 8.7 per cent. Employees accounted for 90.2 per cent of all employed persons, of whom 15.5 per cent, 71,008 individuals, had temporary contracts.

A year earlier, temporary employment stood at 14.5 per cent.

As for the self-employed, their number reached 49,938, representing 9.8 per cent of total employment, broadly steady compared with 48,161 (also 9.8 per cent) a year earlier.

Turning to unemployment by age, joblessness among 15–24-year-olds stood at 13.1 per cent (men 14.1 per cent, women 12.1 per cent), up from 12.1 per cent in Q3 2024.

By contrast, unemployment among those aged 25–64 eased to 3.6 per cent, from 4.0 per cent a year earlier.

Finally, when looking at duration, 63.8 per cent of all unemployed persons had been seeking work for less than six months, while 16.8 per cent had been unemployed for six to eleven months.

Long-term unemployment accounted for 19.4 per cent, down from 23.5 per cent in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.