In an interview with RBK-Ukraine, the director of the State Employment Service, Yulia Zovtyak, shared insights. This information is reported by Kontrakty.UA.
"Currently, the labor market situation remains challenging. Before the full-scale invasion, there was a shortage of job vacancies, and now we face a shortage of personnel. In other words, it is now an employee's market," she stated.
According to her, there is a lack of workers in almost all sectors of economic activity. "We expect further growth in competition for employees: retaining staff and searching for new ones," the official added.
The State Employment Service estimates that the most significant difficulties in filling vacancies arise in the transport sector, construction, and manufacturing industries.
"Clearly, the situation will worsen during the post-war recovery period. The Ministry of Economy is already estimating the labor force deficit over the next decade to be around 4.5 million people," Zovtyak reported.
Not Just the War
The director of the State Employment Service noted that a similar trend existed even before the full-scale invasion.
"This is what we call structural unemployment. However, it has intensified since the war began. Indeed, after the temporary occupation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by Russia, a significant number of local residents, many of whom were miners, relocated to other regions of the country where there is simply no demand for such specialists.
In her view, the reason for structural unemployment is that Ukraine has not promoted these skilled trades for many years. They have long been regarded as unprestigious and low-paying jobs.
"Recently, I spoke with a community of designers. They mentioned that Ukrainians are reluctant to work as seamstresses, for example. This is due to the belief that this field pays very little. In reality, the actual salaries for seamstresses are much higher. For instance, electric welders are offered salaries up to 100,000 hryvnias, while CNC machine operators can earn up to 120,000 hryvnias per month," Zovtyak explained.
She added that after the war, there will be economic recovery and reconstruction of territories, especially after de-occupation.
"Thus, we will need people primarily in the construction and housing restoration sectors, as well as in the restoration of energy infrastructure, water supply, and gas supply. The healthcare sector will also require development. There will be an increasing need for junior medical staff and social service workers," she stated.
It is worth noting that Deputy Minister of Economy Tetiana Berezhna mentioned that due to the war, the emigration of Ukrainians abroad, and internal migration, there is a personnel shortage and structural unemployment in the country. If in 2021 the official labor market counted 11.5 million workers, by 2023 this number has decreased to 9 million officially employed individuals.
According to preliminary calculations, to ensure an annual GDP growth of 7% by 2030, Ukraine needs an additional 4.5 million workers, Berezhna reported.