Labour Force Survey estimates indicated that, during the third quarter, total employment stood at 337,234 accounting for 66.8% of the population aged 15 and over. Data published by the National Statistics Office shows that unemployed persons stood at 9,434 (1.9%) while inactive persons totalled 158,304 (31.3%). The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 84.0% with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25 to 54 (92.8%).
The Employed Population
On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 82 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 87.0% while that for females stood at 75.1%. The largest share of employed persons was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 34 years, for both males and females.
Self-employed persons accounted for 13.6% of all persons with a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and amounted to 300,244. A further 36,990 had a part-time job as their primary employment.
Results show that, on average, full-timers usually worked 41.1 hours while part-timers worked 22.6 hours per week. In the third quarter of 2025, employed persons actually worked 33.3 hours per week, 0.6 hours less when compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
The average monthly basic salary of employees for the third quarter of 2025 was estimated at €2,132. The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and insurance activities sector. Average monthly salaries varied from €1,336 among persons employed in elementary occupations to €3,467 among managers.
The Unemployed and Inactive Population
The unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2025, stood at 2.7%. Females accounted for 58.6% of total inactive persons and those over 65 years made up the highest share of the inactive. The main reason for inactivity relates to persons reaching retirement age or taking up early retirement (42.8%).
Almost 39% of persons aged 15 years and over had attained a secondary level of education or less. By contrast, 38.8% of the employed had a tertiary level education.
