Newsroom
Finding a job in Cyprus appears to be getting easier, at least on paper.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 4.3% during the same period last year, according to the latest Labour Force Survey.
In plain numbers, 19,367 people were unemployed between April and June, compared with 22,663 a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of people in work rose by more than 14,000 to 520,763.
That is good news for the economy and for households. More people working means more salaries coming in, more contributions flowing into the Social Insurance Fund and fewer families relying on unemployment support.
Young people also saw an improvement, although they remain much more likely to struggle when entering the job market. Unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 fell from 14.9% to 12.2%, still roughly one in eight young people who are working or actively looking for work.
The figures also reveal a less comfortable side of the labour market. More than one in five unemployed people had been looking for work for at least a year, while 15.7% of employees were in temporary jobs, up from 14.3% a year earlier.
Services, including tourism, retail, hospitality, finance and professional businesses, continued to dominate, accounting for almost 82% of all employment.
For the average Cypriot, the falling unemployment rate is encouraging, but it does not answer every question. The survey tells us how many people have jobs, not whether those jobs pay enough to cover rent, electricity, groceries and fuel.
Cyprus is creating work. The next test is whether it is creating the stable, well-paid jobs people can actually build a life around.
