A large increase in unemployment due to the shrinking of the island’s banking sector is reflected in latest figures released by both the Statistical Service and the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus.
In fact, the largest annual percentage change in the number of unemployed recorded last month came from financial institutions compared to June 2022.
Specifically, the number of unemployed bank employees last month recorded an increase of 64.1% or 460 people compared to the same month last year.
This was largely due to the voluntary redundancy plans offered last year which saw hundreds of bank employees leaving their jobs.
The contraction in the number of employees in this sector is also reflected in European Central Bank data.
Specifically, ECB toted that the number of bank employees in Cyprus was reduced to 6,722 last year from 8,946 in 2018.
At the same time, the number of bank branches all across Cyprus was reduced to 204 last year from 386 in 2018.
Latest statistics in Nicosia have the total number of registered unemployed in June 2023 reaching a total of 11,747.
Compared to June 2022, unemployment decreased by -585 persons or -4.7% but – compared to May 2023 – unemployment showed a large increase of +1,390 persons or +13.4%.