In 2023, 8.0% of the workforce in Cyprus and 17.1% of workers in the EU aged 20-64 were employed part-time, according to the latest Eurostat data. Cyprus saw a slight decrease from 9.1% in 2022, while the EU experienced a minor increase from 16.9% over the same period.

Over the past decade, part-time employment in Cyprus has gradually declined from 13.3% in 2014. Similarly, the EU showed a steady drop from 19.1% in 2014-2015 to 16.9% in 2022, with an increase only last year.

The share of part-time employment among men in the EU remained relatively stable, at 7.7% in 2023 compared to 8.3% in 2014. For women, however, the rate dropped by 3.9 percentage points (pp), from 31.8% in 2014 to 27.9% in 2023.

In Cyprus, both male and female part-time employment rates saw a significant decrease during this period. Among men, the rate dropped from 10.2% in 2014 to 5.5% in 2023 (a decline of 4.7 pp), while for women, it fell from 16.5% to 10.6% (a reduction of 5.9 pp).

In 2023, 10.5% of Cypriot women aged 25-54 with children worked part-time, compared to 8.5% of women without children. Among men, only 3.3% with children worked part-time, compared to 5.1% of childless men.

In the EU, 31.8% of women aged 25-54 with children worked part-time, versus 20.0% of women without children. Among men, 5.0% with children worked part-time, compared to 7.3% of childless men.

The gap in part-time employment between women and men with children in the EU was substantial at 26.8 pp in 2023, while the difference between women and men without children was approximately half at 12.7 pp.

In Cyprus, however, gender disparities were smaller, with a 7.2 pp gap between women and men with children, and a 3.4 pp difference among those without children.

Among EU countries, Austria recorded the highest gender gap in part-time employment between parents, with a 61.2 pp difference (69.2% for women with children vs. 8.0% for men with children). Germany and the Netherlands followed, with gaps of 57.2 pp and 54.8 pp, respectively. These countries also reported the highest rates of part-time work among women with children.

Romania was the only EU country where part-time employment rates for men, both with and without children, exceeded those for women, with rates of 2.9% and 3.5% for men with and without children, compared to 2.4% and 2.7% for women in these categories.

Data revealed that the share of women with children working part-time was higher than that of childless women in all EU countries except Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Greece, and Romania.