The Ukrainian labor market has been facing a “human resource shortage” since the start of the large-scale war. Over the past two years, low competition among job seekers has become the norm, even as the number of vacancies has increased.
The number of job offers in Ukraine continues to grow, but competition remains low. This spring, major job portals are reporting a record number of vacancies, which even exceed pre-war figures. In the last month alone, the Work.ua portal posted 111 thousand job offers, compared to the previous record in September 2023 – 106 thousand vacancies. Before the war, the robota.ua portal posted 90 thousand vacancies every month (data for January 2022), and in March 2024 this figure increased to 102 thousand vacancies.
These data indicate a recovery in business. Today, the labor market in 14 regions offers more vacancies than in February 2022. The largest number of jobs in April 2024 appeared in Rivne, Ternopil, Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi and Zhytomyr regions. The number of offers from employers also increased by 7-9% in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa regions.
However, the number of job seekers is almost unchanged. 320.6 thousand people posted their resumes on the Work.ua portal in April - almost the same number as in the previous month. However, due to the increase in the number of vacancies, competition continues to decrease.
Regarding vacancies, the most requested positions remain salesperson, driver and sales manager. According to the State Employment Service, the largest number of vacancies were offered in the service sector. The number of job offers in the hotel and restaurant business and tourism has also increased. In these industries, dishwashers, maids, waiters, bartenders, restaurant or hotel administrators have become the most in demand.
To address the shortage of workers, employers are using a variety of methods, including retraining employees, programs for young professionals, automating processes, and outsourcing. The number of vacancies for which employers are willing to hire veterans, people without experience, retirees, students, and people with disabilities has also increased.
The full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation led to a crisis situation in the labor market due to the migration of citizens and the mobilization of men into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Among the reasons for the personnel shortage is a significant shortage of qualified personnel and representatives of working professions.
