Ukraine's labour demand surges amid defence and energy efforts

Ukraine needs labour, but due to the lack of safety guarantees, each person makes the decision to return and take up work in the country individually—stated on Monday by the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishyna.

- It is difficult to call on citizens to return to Ukraine after the horrible attacks on residential buildings in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Kyiv, as well as bombed hospitals. Still, we returned from Washington with quite a serious package of decisions regarding air defence. There will be additional decisions before the end of this year, and there will be further decisions later - she said on television.

She assured that the authorities are working to strengthen defence against Russia's air attacks and are continuously working to ensure a constant power supply to critical infrastructure facilities.

There is a demand for labour because many men are currently subject to mobilization. Therefore, anyone who is willing to work and return can do so now - stated Stefanishyna, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

Earlier on Monday, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economy, Tetiana Berezhna, said that the war with Russia has caused a serious shortage of workers and structural unemployment in her country.

According to preliminary estimates, we need 4.5 million additional workers to ensure an annual GDP growth of 7% by 2030 - she informed at a meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund.

Portal RBK-Ukraine reminded that while in 2021 the official labour market had 11.5 million workers, in 2023 this number dropped to 9 million officially employed. After the outbreak of war, about 2 million Ukrainians found refuge in Poland. Polish companies most often pay Ukrainians from 10 to 12 CAD gross per hour of work. Eighty-eight percent of Ukrainians declare that their earnings in Poland are max. 1,700 CAD net per month - according to the "Polish Labour Market Barometer" by Personnel Service.

- If you were to ask employers who they prefer to hire, Poles would come first, and Ukrainians second. In the case of Ukrainians, entrepreneurs primarily value the low language barrier, cultural proximity, and quick adaptation. All these elements are crucial for entrepreneurs who care about efficient onboarding and integrating an employee into work - explains Krzysztof Inglot, founder of Personnel Service.