In a country where every second company is looking for an employee, and every second unemployed person is looking for a job, the labor market looks like a theater of the absurd. The door is open, but no one enters. Employers sound the alarm because of the shortage of personnel, while millions of Ukrainians, with diplomas and experience, cannot find a place under the sun for months. The demand is crazy, there is a lot of supply, and the market just doesn’t seem to be able to reconcile these two points. Vacancies multiply like mushrooms after the rain and not somewhere in the distant future, but just now, here and now. But instead of a line of willing people, there is only emptiness. It is obvious that a diploma no longer guarantees a job, and the presence of a specialty and experience do not guarantee successful employment. The Ukrainian labor market is facing a crisis that cannot be solved by simple “retraining” or salary increases. And as long as we try to fit the new economy into the old matrix, it is falling apart before our eyes.
A mismatch between supply and demand
The modern labor market in Ukraine demonstrates an unprecedented paradox: a record number of vacancies alongside an acute shortage of personnel. On the one hand, there is a chance for those who are looking for a job. On the other hand, this is an alarming signal for the economy, which is trying to recover in extremely difficult conditions. The picture is complicated by demographic changes, mobilization, forced relocation and rising expectations of the workers themselves. The National Bank records a rapid increase in the number of vacancies on job search platforms.
For example, on the website Work.ua more than 111,000 ads appeared, which is an absolute record since the beginning of the full-scale war. But there is a catastrophic lack of real candidates who are ready to close these positions. The main reasons for this disparity are well known: the continuation of labor migration abroad, mobilization processes, weak adaptation of internally displaced persons and the mismatch of the skills of job seekers to the real needs of business.
According to the NBU, the number of migrants continued to grow during the year, which not only limited the supply of labor, but also reduced consumer demand in the country. In some segments of the market, there is already less than one candidate for a vacancy. The most acute deficit is in the fields of logistics, trade, restaurant business and manufacturing professions. The Ukrainian labor market is literally “sag”, not keeping up with the needs of the economy.
Formally, the statistics look optimistic. The unemployment rate, which was 18.2% in 2023, decreased to 14.2% in 2024, and by 2026 should decrease to 10-12%. But these figures do not hide the improvement of the situation, but its structural deformation. We are talking about changing the composition of the economy, the departure of millions of able-bodied citizens abroad, the uneven recovery of regions, and most importantly, the growing mismatch between available vacancies and the skills of job seekers. As a result, we have unofficial unemployment, which is still high, and official indicators distort reality.
Despite the crazy demand for workers, the average salary in Ukraine in 2025 was about UAH 20,000 – and this figure has remained at the same level for the third month in a row. At the same time, the level of competition in the market fell to a historic low since the beginning of the full-scale invasion: there were even fewer responses per vacancy. Now employees are dictating the rules of the game, and the demand for them continues to grow. This is especially true for highly skilled professionals, particularly in the fields of IT, engineering, marketing, logistics, auditing, finance and management.
Personnel crisis as an opportunity: who is waiting for the business today
Ukrainian business resembles the captain of a ship caught in a storm: there is not enough crew on board, waves are pressing from all sides, and the shore remains invisible. The staffing shortage forced employers to break their usual thinking patterns and switch from the classic “we choose from the best” to the “we hire whoever we find and urgently train them according to our needs” regime.
According to a study by the European Business Association, about 75% of companies no longer just feel a shortage of personnel, but are literally burning in this shortage. And although business is trying to put out the fire with money, raising salaries and opening training programs, the global situation still does not change. The reason for this lies in the lack of people. More and more often, employers are paying attention to those who were ignored until recently. There are no longer requirements for the employee to have experience. When hands are needed here and now, employers take off their blinders and start looking more broadly. Now more and more often, the labor market is ready to hire students (+13% of vacancies for newcomers without experience), veterans (+20%), people with disabilities (+12%) and pensioners (+16%), who were previously rejected.
Employment experts note that there is still some wariness among employers about hiring combat veterans. According to surveys, some employers have concerns, in particular about possible psychological difficulties, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder, which can affect the atmosphere in the team. However, at the same time, more and more companies are ready to integrate veterans into their teams. Some of them are undergoing special training, restructuring work processes and instructing staff on the specifics of communicating with ex-servicemen. For example, in Kyiv, a large number of employers keep jobs for their mobilized workers. In addition, there are examples of how businesses provide support during service and facilitate adaptation after return.
The interest of veterans in creating their own business is also growing. According to the Ministry of Economy, since the start of the corresponding program, 623 veterans or members of their families have already received grants for starting a business. The most common areas of entrepreneurship are trade, agriculture, and the food industry.
The program provides for the provision of non-refundable financial assistance. The amount can reach UAH 1 million, depending on the number of jobs created:
- up to 250 thousand UAH — on the condition of creating one workplace;
- up to 500 thousand UAH — for two new seats;
- up to UAH 1 million — if it is planned to hire at least four employees.
However, there are certain requirements: the program participant must be registered as a sole trader for at least three years. Also, 30% of the cost of the project must be financed by the applicant himself, the remaining 70% by the state. Applications are submitted through the Diya portal along with a business plan. Experts emphasize another trend: some veterans, who were used to a stable and relatively high income during their service, returning to cities with a lower salary level, decide to start their own business. For example, in Kyiv, the average salary for many basic positions is UAH 15,000-20,000. For digital professions, such as marketing, analytics or contact center operators, the payment can reach 30–40 thousand UAH, especially if the specialist speaks a foreign language.
Regarding adaptation to the labor market of people with disabilities, the number of professions that can be performed remotely or in a flexible format is gradually increasing in Ukraine. This can be work both at home (for example, a seamstress) and in the digital space – an online promotion specialist, a call center operator, an SEO specialist, etc. The experience of the pandemic has shown that the remote work format can be effective, and therefore remains relevant in the future.
At the same time, educational and charitable initiatives also play a significant role. Currently, there are a number of programs for veterans that help them adapt after service: psychological support, retraining, training courses. Although the number of participants is still small, these projects form the basis for larger-scale support for those who will return from the front in the future.
In general, the labor market is going through difficult times, but this is what creates new opportunities for people who are ready to acquire new skills. And although finding a job is not easy, prospects for those who seek development are becoming more and more real. At the same time, the integration of veterans should become not only a social priority, but also an answer to the personnel shortage that Ukrainian business is increasingly experiencing.
The new reality of work: the demand for technicians, not theorists
If you dig a little deeper, it becomes clear that the system is slipping. People who want to work and companies looking for employees simply cannot find each other. The profile of an unemployed Ukrainian who applies to the State Employment Service has a typical picture: a person with a higher education, with experience, with expectations of the appropriate level. Such seekers want to do what they studied for and get paid accordingly. But a bitter irony awaits them, because today most of the vacancies that come to the same State Employment Service are not for “office intellectuals”, but for those who know how to work with their hands.
According to a joint study by the Ministry of Education and Science together with international partners, almost a third of all available vacancies are for skilled workers with tools. Another quarter is for operators and technicians who know how to maintain complex equipment. More than 10% — for the simplest professions. In comparison, managers are sought only 6% of the time, and technical employees only 4% of the time.
This imbalance has long ceased to be news, but every year it becomes more and more acute. Business regularly signals that there is a shortage of specialists, and those who do come often do not have the necessary knowledge or turn out to be theorists who are far from practice. It is especially difficult to find specialists in the technical direction, and not only because of the departure of personnel, but also because of the long-term degradation of the system of professional and technical education, which the state is only now beginning to restore.
One of the ways to combat this crisis is adult education. The Ministries of Education and Economy understood that if the market changes, adults should change along with it. That is why hundreds of retraining programs have been launched in recent years for those who have lost their jobs, want to change professions, or are forced to find themselves in new life circumstances. More and more people seek retraining: the unemployed, veterans, immigrants, women looking for new opportunities, and simply those for whom higher education no longer gives the desired result.
In this new reality, labor professions were not just rehabilitated, but became elite. Jobs that used to look second-rate today offer salaries that make even office workers think. For example, one of the companies in the field of car service is looking for a locksmith and is ready to pay from 70 to 100 thousand UAH per month. For this money, the candidate is not required to write a philosophical treatise, but to have a clear knowledge of diagnostics, replacement of technical fluids and the ability to work with multi-brand passenger cars.
Another example is international drivers. Logistics companies offer them from UAH 60,000 to 90,000, demanding driving qualifications, experience in international transportation and knowledge of European roads. Another company engaged in toning and polishing cars is looking for a master with experience and offers up to UAH 60,000. That is, you can now earn many times more with your hands than with your head, at least if you are not an IT expert or a top manager.
It is interesting that even against the background of a general shortage of personnel, some areas show significant increase in wages. For example, media buying specialists who launch advertising campaigns and work with Internet traffic received an average of UAH 67,500 in January 2025. International drivers earn UAH 55,000, endodontists — UAH 51,900. The average income of top managers increased to UAH 47,500 (+6%), beauty and fitness workers already receive UAH 25,000 (+4%), insurance specialists – UAH 26,000 (+4%), construction – UAH 28,500 (+4%). The sector of the hotel and restaurant business, despite difficult times, also shows salary growth – by 3%, up to UAH 22,100.
Analysts explain this trend with several factors. First, the demand for specialists in certain fields is growing faster than the market has time to react. Second, businesses that survived the war began to expand. And finally, the gradual, albeit uneven, recovery of the economy creates new opportunities and increases competition for skilled hands and heads.
But while the state, business and workers try to redefine their roles on the fly, the deformed labor market continues to move blindly. A system in which people with diplomas cannot find work, and companies complain about the lack of locksmiths and drivers, is a mirror not just of an economic problem, but of a deep social transformation. And whoever realizes this sooner will have time to become not a passenger, but a driver in the new economy.
So, the Ukrainian labor market has reached a point where it is dangerous to delay further. The problem is not a lack of vacancies or people’s unwillingness to work. The problem is that the system still plays by the old rules, when skills and requests do not match reality. And while employers are looking for “ready-made” and job seekers are waiting for “ideal” conditions, the economy is losing momentum.
