Cyprus ended June 2026 with 55,162 state employees, according to figures released by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat) on Monday. The total was up by 333 employees, or 0.6%, compared with June 2025.

Education Drives Overall Growth

The increase was driven by the educational service, where employment rose 3.5%. By contrast, civil service employment fell 1.2%, while staffing in the security forces edged down 0.1%.

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The civil service remained the largest part of the public sector workforce, employing 23,096 people, down from 23,366 a year earlier. The educational service employed 18,335 people, up from 17,714, while the security forces employed 13,731, compared with 13,749 in June 2025.

Permanent Staff Continue To Make Up The Majority

Permanent employees remained the largest group within the state workforce, with their number edging up 0.1% to 32,852.

Employees on contracts of indefinite duration increased 1.2% to 9,544, while fixed-term staff recorded the strongest growth among the main employment categories, rising 2.9% to 6,007. Hourly paid employees also increased marginally, up 0.1% to 6,759.

Civil Service Employment Softens

Within the civil service, permanent employment declined 0.6% to 11,872, while employees on indefinite-duration contracts fell 3% to 4,015. Fixed-term employment rose 1.4% to 1,449, while the number of hourly paid workers decreased 1.6% to 5,760.

Education Records The Strongest Increase

The educational service posted the strongest growth, driven by contract-based hiring.

Permanent employment edged down 0.2% to 12,443. Employees on indefinite-duration contracts increased 24.7% to 1,186, the largest percentage gain across all services and employment categories. Fixed-term staff rose 9.8% to 4,557, while hourly paid workers increased 2.8% to 149.

Security Forces See Shift In Contract Employment

Permanent employment in the security forces rose 1.6% to 8,537, while staff on indefinite-duration contracts remained broadly unchanged at 4,343.

The sharpest decline was among fixed-term employees, whose number fell from 255 in June 2025 to just one a year later. According to Cystat, the decrease mainly reflected the completion and non-renewal of specific fixed-term contracts in July 2025.

Meanwhile, the number of hourly paid workers increased 13.3% to 850.

First-Half Employment Remains Stable

Average state employment during the first six months of 2026 increased 0.2% compared with the same period a year earlier.

Average civil service employment declined by 1%, reflecting lower permanent, indefinite-duration, and hourly-paid employment, while fixed-term positions increased by 1.4%.

The educational service recorded average employment growth of 2%, supported by a 24.8% increase in employees on indefinite-duration contracts. Fixed-term and hourly paid staff also increased, while permanent employment edged slightly lower.

Average employment in the security forces was broadly unchanged. Permanent, indefinite-duration and hourly paid employment all increased, while fixed-term employment fell 88.9%.

Across the public sector, average permanent employment rose 0.2% in the first half of the year, while employees on indefinite-duration contracts increased by 1.6%, and fixed-term and hourly-paid employment declined by 1.1% and 0.2%, respectively.