In the conditions of war, most enterprises experience a shortage of personnel, as evidenced by the information provided by the European Business Association. Thus, as of May 2024, 74% of employers experience a shortage of personnel, while 72% of companies plan to raise salaries to your staff.
According to published data, 39% of companies intend to increase the salaries of their staff:
- by 11%-15% of companies;
- by 6-10% – 28% of companies;
- by 16-20% -13% of companies;
- higher than 21% – 2% of companies.
The shortage of personnel has increased significantly since the fall of 2023, at that time 55% of companies experienced it, while now only 7% of companies do not experience personnel hunger at all, and 17% experience it partially.
The main reasons for the shortage of personnel are:
- mobilization (44% of employees were dismissed).
- migration (more than 6 million Ukrainians left abroad).
With a high shortage of personnel, nevertheless, there is high competition among applicants for positions. The highest competition for positions was recorded in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Volyn, Vinnytsia and Lviv regions. The lowest is in the Chernivtsi, Transcarpathian, and Kherson regions. For example, more than 100 applicants are competing for one position of a typewriter, front-end developer, or web designer.
In addition, 79% of companies reported an increase in functionality when hiring new employees, 39% reported an increase in costs for staff development, training and retention. Also, 27% of companies increased bonuses and bonus payments, but 10% of employers reported reducing their staff.
It is noteworthy that the intensity of staff recruitment for positions involving remote employment has decreased. 66% of companies have stopped hiring employees “remotely”, but 17% of employers continue to offer online work. At the same time, 15% of employers have returned employees to offices, 20% plan to do so, and 45% of Ukrainians want to continue working online.
According to Work.ua, employers posted 111,095 job offers on their website in April, which is a record number since the start of military operations in Ukraine. The previous record was set in September 2023, when 105,809 vacancies were posted.
The largest increase in job offers in April 2024 was recorded in the regions of Western Ukraine and Zhytomyr region. The least number of vacancies were offered in Kherson region (13%), Donetsk region (22%), Kharkiv region (42%).
In the leading regions, the number of vacancies increased by 7-9% compared to 2023, while there is no growth in the Kharkiv region, which suffers from blows to the energy infrastructure.
Employers offer the largest number of vacancies in the following categories:
- Service area – 20,427.
- Work specialties, production – 18,996.
- Sale, purchase – 14,435.
- Retail trade – 13,352.
- Hotel and restaurant business, tourism – 11,556.
- Logistics, warehouse, ZED – 10,778.
- Administration, middle management – 9,805.
- Transport, auto business – 8,948.
- Accounting, auditing – 7,722.
- Medicine, pharmaceuticals – 7,686.
Despite the shortage of personnel, the unemployment rate in March 2024 is 118,500.
The above information refers only to officially registered unemployed people in Ukraine. In fact, the real unemployment rate is much higher if it is calculated according to the ILO (International Labor Organization) methodology, according to which a person is considered unemployed only if he has not had a job, looked for a job, or was ready to start working for four weeks. https://index.minfin.com.ua/ua/labour/unemploy/register/2024/ Also, the fact that many men are not registered for the reasons of not reporting their data to the TCC affects the real statistics on the unemployed.
In general, the level of registered unemployed in Ukraine increases critically every year.
Therefore, the labor market in 2024 faces a contradiction between the growth of the number of vacancies and the shortage of candidates, which leads to a certain collapse.
In April 2024, the average salary for civilian vacancies is UAH 20,000, for the fourth month in a row this indicator remains at the same level. However, the highest salary level is offered to specialists in the Armed Forces – an average of 70,000 UAH. Highly paid positions are offered for unit commanders, anti-aircraft gunners, machine gunners, grenade launchers, signalmen, drone pilots, scouts, combat medics, etc.
Recently, a new profession was added to the Register of Qualifications – a specialist in accompanying war veterans and demobilized persons. This professional standard was developed at the initiative of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs with the aim of introducing professional support for war veterans, their family members and families of fallen soldiers on the way to transition from military service to civilian life. In our country, the adaptation of this category of persons should become the norm, employers should recognize the experience of veterans, their potential and leadership qualities, creating programs for support and integration.
Oksana Ishchenko
