In 2023, the share of part-time employees aged 20-64 in Cyprus was 8.0% (17.1% in the EU), recording a slight decrease from 9.1% in 2022 (while showing a slight increase in the EU from 16.9%), according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.

Over approximately the last decade, the share of part-time workers in Cyprus registered a slow but steady decreasing trend from 13.3% in 2014. At the EU level, there was a steady decrease from 19.1% in 2014 and 2015 to 16.9% in 2022, only going up last year.

The share of part-time employment for men in the EU has remained comparatively stable throughout this period, reaching 7.7% in 2023 compared to 8.3% in 2014, but for women the share decreased by 3.9 percentage points (pp) from 31.8% in 2014 to 27.9% in 2023.

In Cyprus there was a consistent and significant decrease for the shares of both men and women in this period. For men the share dropped from 10.2% in 2014 to 5.5% in 2023 (a decrease of 4.7 pp), while for women the share dropped from 16.5% to 10.6% (5.9 pp decrease).

Also, in 2023, 10.5% of employed women aged 25-54 with children in Cyprus worked part-time, compared to 8.5% of employed women without children. Among men, only 3.3% of those with children worked part time compared to 5.1% of those without children.

In the EU, 31.8% of employed women aged 25-54 with children were engaged in part-time work, in contrast to 20.0% of employed women without children. Conversely, among men, only 5.0% of those with children worked part-time compared to the ones without children (7.3%).

The difference in part-time work shares between women and men with children in the EU was a significant 26.8 pp in 2023 and for women and men without children it was less than half, with 12.7 pp.

In Cyprus, these differences were smaller. Among women and men with children, the difference stood at 7.2 pp, and among women and men without children, it stood at 3.4 pp.

The biggest gap between women and men with children was registered in Austria, a 61.2 pp (69.2% versus 8.0%) difference. Germany and the Netherlands followed with 57.2 pp and 54.8 pp differences. These 3 EU countries also have the highest shares of women with children working part-time.

Romania is the only EU country where the share of men with and without children working part-time is higher than the women’s shares: 2.9% and 3.5% for men with and without children versus 2.4% and 2.7% for women with and without children.

Data show that the share of employed women with children working part-time exceeded that of women without children in all EU countries except Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Greece and Romania.