Cyprus has recorded the highest rate of long working hours among long-term care workers in the European Union, according to the European Commission's European Employment and Social Outlook 2026 report.
Specifically, 27.9% of care workers in Cyprus work 49 hours or more per week, based on the report's definition of the "long working hours" indicator. This is the highest proportion in the EU.
Across the EU, the prevalence of long working hours among care workers has worsened over the past decade, increasing by 3.5 percentage points.
By comparison, the share of workers in long working hours employment stands at just 1.5% in the Netherlands.
Employment insecurity and irregular schedules
The report notes that workers in the care sector often work longer hours, receive relatively low wages in some member states and are frequently employed in informal or undeclared forms of work.
Although the proportion of low-paid workers in the sector (11.0%, compared with an EU average of 14.7%, a decline of 3.5 percentage points since 2014) and the proportion working long hours (3.6%, compared with 6.5% across the EU) are below the European average, the overall figures conceal significant differences between countries.
Low pay remains particularly common in:
- Latvia (46.2%)
- Estonia (40.7%)
- Malta (37.0%)
- Spain (32.2%)
- Greece (29.8%)
The report notes that these figures may underestimate the real pressures facing the sector because of the widespread presence of informal and undeclared care work, particularly in personal and domestic care services, which is difficult to capture in official statistics.
It is estimated that around 44 million people provide regular informal care, with women and migrant workers playing an important, though not fully documented, role.
Highest rate of involuntary temporary employment
The report also highlights figures relating to involuntary temporary employment in the sector, namely where workers are employed on fixed-term contracts not by choice but because they were unable to secure permanent work.
Across the EU, 7.8% of care workers are in involuntary temporary employment, compared with 6.4% for the workforce as a whole.
According to the data, 75.5% of care workers in Cyprus are employed on temporary contracts involuntarily, the highest rate among the member states examined in the report.
In contrast, the equivalent figure in Germany stands at just 1.7%.
At the same time, non-standard working-time arrangements affect almost half of all personal care workers (48.3%, or about 2.26 million people).
Although the EU average improved by 3.4 percentage points, the rates remain particularly high in:
- Italy (64.7%)
- Sweden (59.5%)
- Spain (59.2%)
- Finland (58.3%)
- Czechia (56.7%)
These patterns are largely associated with shift work, which affects around one-third of personal care workers.
Staffing shortages expected to worsen
The report states that there were approximately 9.91 million care workers across the EU in 2024, representing an increase of 16% compared with 2014.
However, while the population aged 65 and over is projected to grow by 23% by 2035, employment in long-term care is expected to increase by only 7%.
"The imbalance is expected to create around 4.3 million job vacancies between 2022 and 2035, of which 3.9 million will arise from the replacement of departing workers and 373,000 will be entirely new positions," the report states.
It adds that staff shortages are already persistent and that pressures to fill vacancies intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report also highlights the sector's strong female presence and notes that inadequate access to long-term care services continues to limit broader participation in the labour market.
