Immigrants made up over a quarter of Cyprus’ labour force in 2021

The number of immigrants employed in Cyprus in 2021 amounted to 180,344, corresponding to 28.8 per cent of Cyprus’ total labour force, the Cyprus statistical service (Cystat) has said.

The majority of immigrants came from non-EU states, followed by EU citizens and Cypriot residents (42.2 per cent, 35.1 per cent and 22.7 per cent respectively).

According to Cystat, 37.7 per cent of immigrants moved to Cyprus for employment purposes, while 27.7 per cent moved for family reasons, 6 per cent for asylum and 9.8 per cent for other reasons.

Immigrants made up roughly a third, or 33.3 per cent, of the total number of unemployed workers in Cyprus.

The majority of employed immigrants, that is 78.1 per cent, worked in the services sector, followed by 20.5 per cent in industry and 1.4 per cent in agriculture, Cystat said.

Broken down by gender, of male immigrants, 62.3 per cent worked in services, 35.8 per cent in industry and 1.9 per cent in agriculture. The vast majority of female immigrants, that is 93.7 per cent, were employed in services, 5.4 per cent in industry and 0.9 per cent in agriculture.

Unskilled workers made up 28.5 per cent of total immigrant labour, service and sales workers 16.6 per cent, skilled labour and other specialists 13.8 per cent, and artisans 13.4 per cent.

Regarding employment status, 67.6 per cent of immigrants were employed (74.4 per cent of men and 62 per cent of women), 6.4 per cent were registered as unemployed (7.7 per cent of men, 5.4 per cent of women) and 26 per cent were inactive (17.9 per cent of men and 32.6 per cent of women).

Regarding the duration of unemployment, 46.1 per cent of the total were unemployed for less than 6 months, 22 per cent for a period between 6 and 11 months, and 31.9 per cent for a period of 12 months or more.