Up to a quarter of hotel workers undeclared

UNDECLARED employment in the hotel and restaurant sectors has reached 25 per cent, the labour minister said yesterday.

Sotiroulla Charalambous said over the past year the ministry’s officials carried out some 4,000 inspections in workplaces, which employed 12,500 people.

The inspections found that some 24 to 25 per cent of employees had not been declared, the minister said.

The highest percentage of undeclared employment is among EU and third country workers.

Charalambous said measures were taken to assure the employers’ compliance and those who fail to fall in line are prosecuted.

She said the ministry will continue its inspections to stamp out the phenomenon, which “at the end of the day… is unfair competition for the businesses themselves.”

Unemployment in Cyprus has reached 6.8 per cent.

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