Civil service wages in 2026, from €9.48 to €46.12 an hour

Hourly pay for civil servants in Cyprus now spans from €9.48 at the lowest end of the pay scale to €46.12 for the most senior positions, based on updated remuneration tables released by the department of public administration and personnel for the first half of 2026.

The figures, covering the period from January to June, show how earnings progress sharply across grades and scales.

At entry level, employees in the A1 scale earn between €15,100 and €17,200 annually, with monthly pay starting at €1,322 and topping out at €1,644. The corresponding hourly rate averages €9.48.

Pay rises more noticeably in the mid-level scales. In A8, annual earnings begin at €24,500 for the first grade and climb to €45,800 at the highest, while monthly salaries range from €2,101 to €3,818.

Hourly pay in this category averages between €18.17 and €18.87.

At the upper end of the hierarchy, the A16 scale reflects senior administrative responsibility. Salaries start at €71,000 per year and reach €99,200 at the top grade, with monthly earnings increasing from €6,768 to €8,266.

At this level, the average hourly wage reaches €46.12.

The department clarifies that reduced entry scales apply only to employees hired after January 1, 2012, at the introductory grade of each position, and do not affect promotion posts.

Civil servant pay, the data note, is composed of the basic salary alongside general increases, cost-of-living adjustments (CoLA) and annual increments.

Beyond individual pay packets, public sector wages continue to weigh heavily on state finances. Ministry of Finance estimates show that compensation of employees rose by 6.9 per cent in 2025, pushing total salary expenditure to €4.1 billion, up from €3.9bn a year earlier.

According to the draft budgetary programme 2026 submitted to the European Commission last October, the increase largely reflected CoLA adjustments, higher payroll costs at the state health services organisation (Okypy), annual increments, increased gratuity payments and the general salary increase that came into force in October 2024.

Growth is expected to slow this year. For 2026, employee compensation expenditure is forecast to rise by around 4 per cent, reaching €4.3bn, with inflation projected at zero and the impact of the previous general increase no longer feeding into the annual growth rate.

In GDP terms, employee compensation is estimated at 11.8 per cent in 2025, compared with 11.6 per cent in 2024, before edging down to 11.7 per cent in 2026.

Separately, the department of public administration and personnel announced revised hourly pay rates and work allowances for hourly government personnel, effective from January 1, 2026, following the latest CoLA adjustment.