Cypriots top EU workers in average earnings

Cypriot citizens earned more on average than EU nationals working on the island during 2022, according to an earning report released on Thursday by the state statistical service (Cystat).

In addition, the report highlighted persistent salary gaps based on gender, occupation and citizenship.

Specifically, the mean hourly earnings of full-time employees in Cyprus stood at €12.23, representing an increase of 13.4 per cent compared with 2018, when the figure was €10.78, and continuing a steady upward trend from €10.46 in 2014 and €11.32 in 2010.

Mean earnings, often described as the average, are calculated by adding up all hourly earnings and dividing the total by the number of employees, which can be influenced by very high or very low salaries.

By contrast, the median hourly earnings, which represent the midpoint where half of employees earn more and half earn less, stood at €8.98 in 2022, underlining that many workers earned well below the overall average.

Cystat said median pay is often a better reflection of what a typical employee earns, as it is less affected by a small number of very high earners.

Male full-time employees earned a mean hourly wage of €12.84, while female employees earned €11.52, resulting in a gender pay gap of 10.2 per cent, slightly narrower than the 10.4 per cent recorded in 2018.

Median hourly earnings were €9.47 for men and €8.42 for women, with both figures rising by 9.9 per cent compared with 2018.

The survey placed particular emphasis on differences by citizenship, showing that 50 per cent of full-time employees with Cypriot citizenship earned less than €9.65 per hour, compared with €7.15 for EU citizens excluding Cyprus and €7.06 for workers from non-EU countries.

On a mean basis, Cypriot citizens earned €12.66 per hour, which was almost identical to non-EU workers at €12.61, while EU nationals earned significantly less at €9.80 per hour.

The data also revealed sharp contrasts at the top end of the labour market, as non-EU citizens working as managers earned the highest mean hourly pay at €40.74, followed by EU citizens at €34.58, while Cypriot managers earned €29.19 per hour on average.

Across all occupational categories, the largest share of employees earned between €5.00 and €10.00 per hour.

At the same time, non-EU workers recorded both the highest proportion earning less than €5.00 per hour at 14.4 per cent and the highest share earning €25.00 or more per hour at 13.7 per cent.

By occupation, managers had the highest mean hourly earnings overall at €31.08, followed by professionals at €17.71, while elementary occupations recorded the lowest pay with mean earnings of €7.07 per hour.

In terms of economic activity, education topped the pay scale with mean hourly earnings of €20.44.

This was followed by information and communication at €19.26 and financial and insurance activities at €18.62, while accommodation and food services recorded the lowest earnings at €7.68 per hour.

Cystat said the survey, conducted during 2023 with 2022 as the reference year, covered enterprises across almost all sectors of the economy and forms part of an EU-wide effort to produce harmonised earnings data to support policy-making and research.