Young graduates in Cyprus achieved an employment rate of 82.3 per cent in 2025, closely mirroring the European Union average, according to a report from Eurostat.

The overall employment rate for recent graduates across the European Union aged 20 to 34 reached 83.0 per cent in 2025, marking an increase from the 82.3 per cent recorded in 2024.

This figure represents a significant improvement of 7.5 percentage points over the last 11 years.

When analysed by educational attainment, recent graduates with a tertiary education across the bloc enjoyed an employment rate of 87.0 per cent.

This result is almost 10 percentage points higher than the rate for those holding a medium level of education, which stood at 77.2 per cent.

A closer look at the data for Cyprus shows a notable trend where women outperformed men in the labour market.

Women in Cyprus reached an employment rate of 83.3 per cent, while men in Cyprus recorded a rate of 81.3 per cent.

Across the European Union, the broader trend favoured men, with a male employment rate of 84.4 per cent compared to 81.5 per cent for women.

Malta led the bloc with the highest employment rate of recent graduates at 91.0 per cent, followed by Germany at 90.6 per cent and the Netherlands at 90.1 per cent.

Conversely, the lowest rates were observed in Greece at 62.4 per cent, Italy at 71.8 per cent, and Romania at 72.7 per cent.

Among male graduates, the Czech Republic recorded the highest level at 92.4 per cent, followed by the Netherlands at 92.1 per cent and Germany at 92.0 per cent.

The lowest levels for men were found in Greece at 56.8 per cent, Italy at 73.3 per cent, and Romania at 74.9 per cent.

For women, Malta again led the way at 90.5 per cent, ahead of Germany at 89.0 per cent and Austria at 88.8 per cent.

The lowest rates for women were reported in Greece at 68.6 per cent, Italy at 70.2 per cent, and Romania at 70.3 per cent.

Across 18 member states, the employment rate for men exceeded that of women.

The Czech Republic saw the largest gender gap, with men leading by 12.2 percentage points, followed by Latvia at 10.3 percentage points and Slovenia at 6.3 percentage points.

In countries where the employment rate was higher for women, the largest discrepancies were noted in Greece at 11.8 percentage points, Estonia at 5.0 percentage points, and Finland at 4.4 percentage points.