Cyprus is among EU member states with the highest increase in employment during the first quarter of 2026, Eurostat said on Friday.

In the first quarter of 2026, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 in the EU stood at 76.3 per cent, up from 76.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Labour market slack – all persons who have an unmet need for employment, including unemployed people – stood at 10.9 per cent of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the first quarter of 2026, down from 11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, Italy with 0.5 percentage points (pp), as well as Belgium, Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden with 0.4 pp each, registered the highest increases in the employment rate among the 11 EU countries where employment rose.

The employment rate remained stable in six EU countries and decreased in another ten EU countries, with the biggest decreases recorded in Latvia with -0.8 pp, Ireland -0.7 pp, as well as in Slovenia and Finland -0.3 pp each.