According to data released by Eurostat, Cyprus recorded the third highest over-qualification rate within the European Union in 2024, with a notable disparity between the rates of over-qualified women and men. Over-qualification is defined as the employment of individuals holding tertiary qualifications in roles that do not necessitate such a high level of education.
In 2024, the overall over-qualification rate across the EU stood at 21.3%, broken down into 20.5% for men and 22.0% for women. Among member states, Spain led with the highest rate of over-qualification at 35.0%, followed by Greece at 33.0%, and Cyprus at 28.2%. Conversely, Luxembourg reported the lowest rate at 4.7%, accompanied by Croatia at 12.6% and Czechia at 12.8%.
In Cyprus, the gender gap in over-qualification was significant, with 31.2% of women classified as over-qualified compared to 24.6% of men. This trend was echoed across 21 of the 27 EU countries, where women reported higher over-qualification rates than men. The largest disparities were noted in Italy (7.7 percentage points), Slovakia (6.4 percentage points), and Malta (5.3 percentage points).
Conversely, six EU countries noted higher over-qualification rates among men, with Lithuania showing the largest difference at 5.2 percentage points, followed by Latvia at 2.6 percentage points and Estonia at 2.5 percentage points.
In terms of overall employment, the share of employed individuals aged 20 to 64 in the EU reached 75.8% in 2024, accounting for approximately 197.6 million people. This marks the highest employment rate observed since Eurostat began recording data in 2009. The employment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points compared to 2023 and 1.2 percentage points compared to 2022.
The Netherlands reported the highest employment rates among EU countries at 83.5%, followed closely by Malta at 83.0% and Czechia at 82.3%. In contrast, the lowest employment rates were found in Italy at 67.1%, Greece at 69.3%, and Romania at 69.5%.
In Cyprus, the employment share reached 79.8% in 2024, signalling a strong performance in the local labour market despite the challenges posed by high over-qualification rates.
Source : CNA
