Vacancies disappear, the rules of the game change: who will become superfluous in the labor market in Ukraine

A few years ago, it was believed that a good education and experience is a guarantee of successful employment. But the reality has changed: the labor market in Ukraine is experiencing turbulence, where adaptation has become the main condition for survival. War, economic challenges and technological breakthroughs led by artificial intelligence are rapidly rewriting the playing field. Remote work is displacing offices, the requirements for candidates are becoming stricter, and some professions are disappearing with no prospect of return. The working reality has changed, and now the main question is who will have time to adapt, and who will be left behind.
The situation in the modern labor market
For data survey conducted in February 2025 by the National Bank, more and more companies intend to change the number of their employees, and layoffs will occur much more often than hiring new ones in all major industries.
So, among enterprises in the service sector:
- 78% will keep the current number of employees;
- 8% will hire new ones;
- 14% plan to downsize, which is almost twice as many as those who plan to increase staff.
Among industrial enterprises:
- 81% will keep the current number of employees;
- 8% will hire new ones;
- 11% will lay off, which is almost 1.4 times more than the number of those who want to increase the staff.
Among the trade enterprises:
- 83% will keep the current number of employees;
- 8% will hire new ones;
- 9% plan to lay off, which is slightly more than the number of those who are going to expand the staff.
Among construction companies:
- 65% will keep the current number of employees;
- 15% will hire new ones;
- 19% will make layoffs, which is almost 1.3 times more than the number of those who plan to increase staff.
At the same time, it is possible to earn good money in Ukraine without a higher education, in particular, having a working profession. Some employers are ready to pay representatives of certain specialties more than UAH 60,000. For example, there is on the Work.ua portal request for the vacancy of a car mechanic, for which they promise to pay from 70,000 to 100,000 hryvnias.
Artificial intelligence instead of people
Automation, which previously affected only production, is now advancing into areas where people dominated. Accountants, lawyers, content creators, HR specialists – they all already face competition from artificial intelligence (AI). Chatbots process applications, neural networks create texts, and algorithms analyze financial reports faster than any analyst. A fantastic future is rapidly becoming a reality in which entire professions risk becoming redundant.
Large companies are increasingly investing in digital solutions instead of hiring new employees. It is more profitable for a business to pay for the development of an algorithm that will work 24/7 without sick days and vacations. As a result, vacancies are decreasing, and competition in the market is only increasing.
According to the data research from Microsoft and LinkedIn, 75% of employees actively use AI in their work. Today, with the help of a neural network, doctors diagnose diseases and make predictions about the development of diseases. in Ukrainian medical centers, neural networks are effectively used for the treatment of infertility. AI deals with comprehensive diagnostics of embryos and predicts the probability of pregnancy.
AI is also widely used in business: to implement the process of production automation and quality control, to conduct financial analytics, to forecast trends and fight against fraudsters. AI technology is also actively used by educators, selecting learning materials and performing automatic evaluation. “Ukrzaliznytsia” uses GPT-chat for structuring and analyzing passenger feedback, quick problem solving, which significantly improved the company’s work.
According to the data research of the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, 62.5% of business and management occupations are undergoing significant transformation. 66.7% of professions in the field of design will also change.
The consortium formulated the skills that are currently relevant in the labor market:
- ethics and responsible use of AI;
- architecture of large language models (LLM);
- machine learning (ML);
- ability to perform data analysis;
- natural language processing (NLP).
Skills such as programming, content creation, scripting and data management are becoming redundant in today’s world.
U reports World Economic Forum The Future of Jobs Report 2023 it is already said that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace 85 million jobs worldwide.
According to The Future of Jobs Report, the following top 10 jobs that are in demand on the labor market can be compiled:
- Experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Specialists in sustainable development
- Business analytics
- Information security analysts
- Financial engineering engineers
- Analysts and researchers
- Robotics engineers
- Electrical engineering engineers
- Operators of agricultural machinery
- Specialists in digital transformation.
Professions that disappeared and became exotic
The changes affected not only office workers. Trade, logistics, production – all these areas are rapidly transforming. Automated warehouses are displacing loaders, digital checkouts are replacing salespeople, and courier services are testing drones and autonomous cars. This is especially noticeable in the service sector. Self-service services in banks, chatbots in support services and online consultations are replacing classic operators and managers. We are witnessing how technology is gradually eliminating entire segments of the labor market.
The world is constantly changing, and along with it, professions that were once a necessity, but now are only exotic for historians, are disappearing. Some hundred years ago, people walked the streets without whom the city could not function normally. Today, their work is performed by machines, automated systems, or simply the needs of society have changed.
Before electricity became the norm, city streets were plunged into darkness, and only lanterns could disperse it. Armed with long poles, they lit kerosene lanterns in the evening and extinguished them at dawn. The sewers of big cities have always been teeming with rodents, and in the 19th century special masters – rat catchers – fought with them. They climbed into underground tunnels, caught rats with their hands or traps, and then sold them for various scientific experiments. Some held the rat catchers as a kind of urban heroes, while others were loathe to even look in their direction. In the 19th century, there was even a profession of stealing bodies for medical universities, because finding a corpse legally in those days was not an easy task.
Imagine that you are sleeping, and a man knocks on the window with a long stick or shoots peas at him from a pipe. This is a knocker-up person. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when alarm clocks were an expensive luxury item, workers hired such “snitchers” to wake them up for a shift. The profession was especially valued among miners and factory workers.
Before the advent of refrigerators, people stored food in basements and ice pits. And ice was cut on rivers and lakes in winter, stored in special warehouses and sold in summer. It was physically demanding, dangerous work – one wrong move and you could end up under icy water.
In the Victorian era, death was almost an art, and a funeral was an important ceremony. Special masters were engaged in “beautifying” the deceased before burial: they painted the cheeks, smoothed the facial features, closed the eyes to create the illusion of peaceful sleep. A job that gives goosebumps, but then it was necessary.
In the 20th century, bowling became a very popular form of entertainment, but there was no mechanism for automatically restoring knocked down pins. This important mission was entrusted to the so-called “skeleton boys”.
The familiar phrase “beating boy” did not appear for a reason either. In medieval England, only the father of the future monarch could punish him, but due to his constant preoccupation with state affairs, it was often done by others. Therefore, each royal son had a special boy who was beaten instead of him. This child was raised with the heir to the throne and was always by his side. In case of disobedience of the monarch’s son, the boy could be punished by nannies and teachers for beating.
Surprisingly, even the profession of a spittoon was very important in ancient times. In order to properly plant turnip seeds, which do not like crowding, specially trained people quickly and accurately spat the seeds into the holes. To mask unpleasant odors in the premises of castles in England in the 17th century, herb sprinklers were hired. But with the advent of perfumes, this profession quickly disappeared. In addition, poor unmarried girls in Sweden in the 17th century were engaged in making mortar and delivering it to masons. They were called Mursmyatsk.
Today, we get all the information we need in a matter of minutes on social networks. And in medieval Europe, heralds, who enjoyed great respect among the illiterate population, were engaged in spreading news. Heralds drew attention to themselves with the help of a bell or a trumpet. The prototype of the modern couriers we look forward to in those days was a milkman. At first, milkmen traveled on carts pulled by horses or a donkey, and then they switched to bicycles. In the past, the role of a taxi driver was performed by a driver. Moreover, a distinction was made between permanent drivers who worked for one owner and mercenaries who took money for riding for fun.
The profession of a telephone operator, who directed incoming calls to the correct subscriber’s machine, was very important. They accepted for these positions decent, well-educated girls with good health and height, so that they could reach the top of the switchboard.
As we can see, many professions have disappeared, changed, or become something else. Lanterns have been replaced by lamps, rat traps have given way to sanitary services, and “alarm clocks” have become unnecessary in the age of smartphones. Perhaps, in the future, those professions that we now consider indispensable will also disappear.
Even today, Ukrainians have to adapt quickly. There is a growing demand for specialists who not only possess classic skills, but also understand modern technologies. Knowing the basics of programming, understanding the work of AI, analytical thinking – all these are becoming mandatory tools for competitiveness. Education does not end with a diploma anymore, and continuous learning is becoming the norm. Those who learn new skills in time will be able to stay afloat.
One thing is clear, the labor market in Ukraine will not be the same as before. Artificial intelligence, automation and globalization are changing it beyond recognition. Jobs that seemed reliable yesterday are disappearing today, and new jobs require more skills and flexibility. Now stability is not a profession, but the ability to quickly adapt. And those who are ready for these changes will have a chance not only to keep their jobs, but also to find new opportunities in a world where algorithms are already starting to dictate the rules.