Cyprus is making progress on the employment front, as new figures from Eurostat show a significant decline in long-term unemployment. In 2024, the country’s long-term unemployment rate dropped to 1.3%, down from 1.8% in 2023 — a 0.5% improvement.
This places Cyprus 19th among EU member states, sitting between Hungary (1.5%) and Austria (1.1%), and below the EU average for long-term unemployment.
Historic Low for EU Unemployment
Across the broader European Union, long-term unemployment has hit a record low of 1.9%, compared to 2.1% last year. This positive trend comes as part of a broader improvement in the EU labor market.
For the age group 15 to 74, total unemployment in the EU fell to 5.9%, marking the lowest rate since Eurostat began tracking this data in 2009.
But not all countries are seeing the same progress. Greece still reports the highest long-term unemployment at 5.4%, followed by Spain (3.8%) and Slovakia (3.5%). On the other end of the spectrum, the Netherlands leads with the lowest rate at just 0.5%, followed by Malta (0.7%), and the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Poland (each at 0.8%).
Youth Unemployment Still a Challenge
Despite overall improvements, youth unemployment — specifically among those aged 15 to 24 — saw an uptick, rising to 14.9%, up by 0.4% from 2023.
Meanwhile, joblessness declined slightly for other age brackets:
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25–54 years: now at 5.4% (down 0.1%)
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55–74 years: now at 4.1% (down 0.2%)
A Mixed Outlook
While Cyprus and the EU at large are seeing encouraging signs in long-term and general unemployment rates, the persistent rise in youth unemployment continues to be a concern. Still, the steady overall decline in unemployment across nearly every demographic suggests the labor market is stabilizing after years of economic uncertainty.
Source: Stockwatch.com.cy