Annual earnings of Cyprus employees dropped from €24,530 in 2010 to €23,791 in 2018, an indication that pay has not yet recovered to pre-2012 levels when the banking collapse and financial crisis took its toll on salaries, mainly in the private sector.
The Structure of Earnings Survey for 2018 compiled by the statistical service CyStat, said that the total monthly earnings of full-time employees averaged €1,837 (€1,977 for men and €1,676 for women).
Although this was an increase of 5.1% from 2014 wages, it was still short of the monthly €1,890 earned in 2010.
However, data indicates that wages have improved in the last two years.
According to provisional figures for 2020, average gross monthly earnings during the second quarter of the year increased by 1.7% to €1,925 from €1,893 in the second quarter of 2019.
The CyStat annual data for 2018 showed that the mean total annual earnings for full-time employees was an average €23,791 (€25,618 for men and €21,706 for women), which is still lower than the 2010 annual €24,530.
“The occupational category with the highest monthly and annual earnings for full-time employees, was category “Managers”, with a monthly average of €5,697 and an annual average of €76,919,” the CyStat report said.
The categories with the lowest mean monthly and annual earnings for full-time employees were: a) “Elementary occupations”, with an average of €1,146 and €14,682 respectively; and b) “Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers”, with an average of €1,177 and €14,713 respectively.
However, Cystat said this was for a very small sample of employees in these categories.
Highest earners in ‘Mining & Quarrying’
According to CyStat, the highest monthly and annual earnings for full-time employees in 2018 was in “Mining and Quarrying” (a section with a small number of employees), with mean monthly earnings €3,225 and mean annual earnings €45,247. “Financial and Insurance Activities” follows, with €3,017 and €39,886 respectively.
The lowest mean monthly and annual earnings for full-time employees were in “Accommodation and Food Service Activities” (monthly €1,229 and annual €15,940), followed by “Other Service Activities” (monthly €1,285 and a yearly €16,096).
In 2018, the mean hourly rate was €10.78 for full-time employees and €8.08 for part-timers.
Full-time male employees received €11.33 while women earned €10.15, on average. Part-time male employees received €7.99 and females €8.16.
This was an increase of 3.1% from the hourly earnings of full-time employees in 2014 and 14.5% for part-timers.
“The increase in the hourly earnings of part-time employees is mainly attributed to the large increase in the number of employees in the labour market overall and specifically in occupational categories such as, “Professionals” and “Technicians and associate professionals”, the Cystat report concluded.
