The number of public sector employees dropped by 1.1% to 48,038 between September 2014 and September 2015, according to data released by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) in October 2015. This drop represented a decrease in permanent employees, which offset a rise in the number of casual employees. Specifically, the number of permanent employees fell by 2.6% (to 36,965), while the number of casual employees rose by 4.2% (to 11,073).

According to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus and the Troika (comprising the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank), Cyprus is obliged to reduce the number of public sector employees by 4,500 by 2016 compared to 2012. This is to be achieved through various steps: a freeze on hiring new personnel to entry-level posts until the end of 2016, the recruitment of one worker for every four retirements, the introduction of transferability of civil servants, and the scrapping of at least 1,880 permanent posts.

Between September 2014 and September 2015, the number of civil servants dropped by 1.6%. The number holding a permanent post dropped by 3.6%, while there was a 3.4% increase in casual posts. The total number of hourly paid employees was reduced by 1.9%; the number of permanent hourly paid employees fell by 3.3%, while the number of casual hourly paid employees rose by 3.8%.

 

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