Cyprus is among the EU countries with the highest number of professionals overqualified for their job in 2024.
This was recently announced by Eurostat.
According to this indicator, the island state is in third place (28.2%). Only Spain (35%) and Greece (33%) had more overqualified workers. The lowest levels of overqualification were recorded in Luxembourg (4.7%), Croatia (12.6%) and the Czech Republic (12.8%). For the EU as a whole, the percentage of over-specialised workers in 2024 was 21.3%.
Interestingly, the study revealed not only a marked mismatch between educational attainment and positions held, but also gender inequality. At EU level, women are more likely than men to be in jobs below their level of qualification: 22% compared to 20.5%. In Cyprus, the gap is even wider - 31.2% for women compared with 24.6% for men.
Out of the 27 EU countries, 21 have higher levels of overqualification among women.
The largest gender gaps are found in Italy (7.7%), Slovakia (6.4%) and Malta (5.3%). In six EU Member States, men are more likely to be overqualified. The largest differences are found in Lithuania (5.2%), Latvia (2.6%) and Estonia (2.5%).
According to Eurostat, the overall employment rate in the EU will reach an all-time high in 2024. For citizens aged 20-64, this indicator stood at 75.8%, a record value for the entire history of the observation, which began in 2009. In absolute terms, 197.6 million people were employed in the EU. This was 0.5% more than in 2023 and 1.2% more than in 2022. The Netherlands (83.5%), Malta (83%) and the Czech Republic (82.3%) were the countries with the highest employment rates. The lowest rates were recorded in Italy (67.1%), Greece (69.3%) and Romania (69.5%).
In Cyprus, the employment rate in 2024 is close to 79.8%, which is well above the EU average and indicates stable dynamics in the island's labour market.