One of the main concerns facing societies today is unemployment, although its evolution is not the same in all economies. Moreover, it is one of the variables that can not only delay but also prevent real convergence between the Member States of the European Union. This is the reason why it is necessary to know the determinants of the evolution of the unemployment rate. The aim of this paper is to present an explanatory model of unemployment since the beginning of the 21st century in two Mediterranean economies, Greece and Cyprus, which have important historical, cultural and economic ties. The identification of variables that may influence unemployment makes it possible to determine wheth er the response of the Greek and Cypriot authorities to reduce it has been adequate.