Cyprus labour market shows resilient job transitions at end of year

Cyprus saw approximately 5,000 unemployed people aged 15 to 74 move into employment in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Eurostat data on labour market flows released on Friday.

That was slightly lower than the approximately 6,000 recorded in the third quarter, pointing to a modest slowdown in the number of people moving from unemployment into work.

Across the European Union, 3.1 million unemployed people found a job between the third and fourth quarters of 2025, equivalent to 22.9 per cent of all those unemployed in the third quarter. 

Meanwhile, 6.9m people, representing 51.9 per cent, remained unemployed, while another 3.4m (25.2 per cent) moved out of the labour force. 

The Eurostat figures, expressed in thousand persons, show that Cyprus remained a relatively small labour market in absolute terms, as expected, but still recorded continued movement from unemployment into employment at the end of the year. 

Among the larger EU economies, Spain recorded 740,000 unemployed people moving into work in the fourth quarter, up from 690 thousand in the third quarter.

France rose to 701 thousand from 568 thousand, while Germany increased to 525,000 from 447,000.

Elsewhere, Portugal recorded 99,000 such transitions in the fourth quarter, down slightly from 101,000 in the previous quarter.

Greece fell to 46,000 from 49,000, while Italy dropped to 107,000 from 129,000, the report added.

Among smaller member states, Austria rose to 91,000 from 84,000, while Ireland increased to 60,000 from 42,000. Luxembourg, by contrast, edged down to 4,000 from 5,000.

Eurostat also said that, of all those in employment in the third quarter of 2025, 2.5m people in the EU, representing 1.2 per cent, became unemployed in the fourth quarter.  

A further 4.8m, equivalent to 2.3 per cent, moved out of the labour force. 

In addition, among those outside the labour force in the third quarter, 4.2m moved into employment in the final quarter of the year, while 3.8m shifted into unemployment.  

The figures track how people moved between employment, unemployment and inactivity over the quarter.