During the last few months, the shortage of personnel has become a serious problem for business in Ukraine. In a new monthly survey of enterprises conducted by the New Monthly Enterprises Survey, 50% of respondents indicated this problem as critical.
According to the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations conducted in March 2024, the situation with the search for workers has worsened. Difficulties arose for both skilled and unskilled workers. Compared to February, the percentage of enterprises that have problems finding qualified personnel increased from 31.0% to 38.9%, and with regard to unskilled workers - from 26.5% to 31.7%.
"The results of the survey reflect the complexity of the situation with access to the workforce for businesses. For the first time in March, half of the surveyed businesses indicated that this problem has become a significant obstacle to further development. Compared to 2022, when about 20% of the respondents mentioned the labor shortage, and last year, when it concerned about a third of the respondents, by the end of 2023, this problem began to increase actively," explained the senior researcher of the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations. .
In general, the ranking of obstacles to business operations has hardly changed: the rise in prices for raw materials and goods (53%) remains in first place, the shortage of personnel (50%) - in second place, and the danger to work (46%) - in third place. Power outages rose from 7th to 4th place (40%) due to damage caused by rocket attacks in March.
"The problem of energy supply has increased due to damage to facilities as a result of missile attacks in March," the executive director of the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations reported. During the past year, this indicator did not exceed 40%, but in March 2023 it reached 46%.
Problems with energy supply turned out to be especially serious for large enterprises, which became targets for missile attacks. At the same time, small and medium-sized enterprises were less affected. After the missile attacks, there were changes in the regional assessments of the danger of work: Cherkasy region topped the rating for this indicator (100% of respondents from this region noted the danger of work), while Zaporizhzhya, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv regions traditionally remained in the top of the most dangerous regions. At the same time, the Volyn and Zakarpattia regions remain relatively calm.
More than 500 Ukrainian industrial enterprises located in 21 out of 27 regions of Ukraine participate in the monthly survey of the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations. The survey in this format has been conducted since May 2022. Business managers compare performance in March 2024 with February, evaluate indicators at the time of the survey and provide forecasts for the next three/six months or two years. Sometimes the results are compared with the pre-war period, when a similar business survey was conducted.
