Data submitted to the House of Representatives by Labour Minister Marinos Moushouttas show the scale of undeclared work in Cyprus, which is concentrated mainly in construction, hotels and restaurants. Over the three years from 2024 to 2026, inspectors found 2,579 undeclared employees among the 47,739 they checked.
Inspections and fines in figures
The minister was responding to a parliamentary question from DISY MP Nikos Georgiou, chairman of the House Energy, Commerce and Industry Committee. According to his reply, over the three-year period:
- a total of 19,286 inspections were carried out
- 47,739 employees were checked
- 2,579 undeclared employees were identified, 5.40% of those checked
- violations were found in 1,362 inspections, or 7.1% of the total
- administrative fines totalling €4.3 million were imposed
Construction tops the list
Construction remains the largest source of undeclared work in Cyprus. Over the three years, 3,011 inspections were carried out in the sector, and 1,040 undeclared workers were found. That figure represents 40.3% of all undeclared workers identified across every sector of the economy.
Breakdown by sector
The number of undeclared workers found in other sectors over the same period was:
- hotels and restaurants: 658
- wholesale and retail trade: 201
- administrative and support activities: 146
- manufacturing: 131
- transport and storage: 113
Campaign inspections
During 5,474 campaign inspections over the three years:
- 460 undeclared employees were found in 287 businesses
- 498 notices of violation were served
- 269 administrative fines were issued, totalling €816,000
Staffing shortfall
The ministry acknowledges that the current staffing of the Inspection Service is inadequate. Inspectors from the Department of Labour Relations are assisting, carrying out inspections on top of their own duties.
Target of 10,000 inspections a year
“The Service’s target, as set under the co-financed project, is to carry out ten thousand (10,000) inspections a year by the end of the project, at the end of 2027,” the minister said.
“In the full years 2024 and 2025, 7,858 and 7,920 inspections were carried out respectively, covering about 79% of the target. An increase in the annual volume of inspections of about 2,100 is therefore required within the next two years.”
The shortfall, he stressed, is directly linked to staffing.
“The Service has seven inspectors. Even with the assistance of the Labour Relations Inspectors, achieving the target of 10,000 inspections a year would require around 715 inspections per inspector. With the Service’s own staff alone, the figure rises to around 1,430 inspections per inspector a year,” he noted.
For this reason, he said, “the existing staffing is considered insufficient to meet the target, and reinforcement with permanent, full-time staff is required”.
