Cyprus had the second largest share of workers that could not afford to go on vacation in 2022 among the EU member states, while also seeing the third largest increase in these numbers compared to 2021, according to an analysis of Eurostat data conducted by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

As ETUC points out in a press release, the countries with the highest share of workers who can’t afford a holiday are Romania (36%), Cyprus (25%) and Greece (25%).

The figures for 2023 could be even worse following a record increase in the cost of holidays last summer, combined with falling real wages across the EU last year due to profit-driven inflation, according to ETUC.

In the EU in 2022, an estimated 39.7 million working people (14.6%) could not afford a week’s holiday away from home, either in their own country or abroad, in 2022 – up from 37.6 million (13.8%) in 2021.

“A holiday is not a luxury, having time away with family is key for protecting the physical and mental health of workers along with providing valuable experiences for children” said ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch. “The growth in the number of working class families who could afford a holiday was one of Europe’s great social advances of the 20th century” Lynch noted, adding that “these figures show how social progress is being reversed as a result of increased economic inequality”.

The biggest increase in holiday poverty came in France, where 974 thousand more workers were not able to go on vacation in 2022 compared to 2021. Italy still had the highest number of workers who can’t afford a break (6.074.387) despite a decrease of about a million workers (-2.74%).

The biggest percentage point changes came in Ireland (+3.8%) and France (+2.5%), with Cyprus following with +2.39% (corresponding to 1454 thousand people).

According to ETUC’s general, the findings show that collective bargaining agreements are “the best way of ensuring a working people receive a fair share of the wealth they create and can enjoy something as basic a week’s holiday rather than just struggling to survive.”

The findings underline the need for collective bargaining as workers who are covered also enjoy up to two weeks more holiday every year, according to ETUC’s analysis.

The EU member states have adopted the Minimum Wage directive which requires all members states to promote collective bargaining and ensure that at least 80% of workers are covered by collective agreements, ETUC points out.

However, a recent Eurofound report said in July that “concrete actions to promote collective bargaining coverage were only detected in a small number of countries”, according to the press release. The ETUC has warned member states that the deadline to put the Minimum Wages Directive into national law is on 15 November 2024.