One in seven Ukrainians was unemployed in 2024 according to a report by the Ukrainian Centre for Economic Strategy (CES).
Unemployment in Ukraine shrank by just over three percentage points in 2024 to 14.3%, down from 17.4% in 2023. In 2022 by comparison, unemployment was 4.2 percentage points higher, at 18.5%.
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However, the labor shortage in Ukraine remains high, and competition among employers drove the growth of real wages by 14.4%, the CES report says.
Businesses in Ukraine are finding it harder to recruit the right people because of mobilization and the exodus of Ukrainians from the country due to the full-scale war. As a result, companies are hiring more women, students, and elderly workers for positions that had traditionally been held by men.
Most Ukrainians who left the country due to Russia’s war were of working age, which meant Ukraine lost a chunk of employees inside the country post February 2022, National Bank of Ukraine Deputy Governor Sergiy Nikolaychuk previously told Kyiv Post.
He made the point that employees remaining in Ukraine didn’t always have skills needed for Ukraine’s economy; furthermore, that demand has increased in industries that previously didn’t need such large a workforce, for example drone manufacturing.
An optimistic scenario might see some 1.7 million Ukrainians remaining abroad after the war. A moderate estimate suggests 2.3 million, while a pessimistic scenario projects up to 2.7 million remaining abroad, Kyiv Post previously reported.
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According to CES, labor market imbalances will persist in the coming years.
After the war, between 290,000 and 532,000 men – who are currently unable to leave due to conscription rules – may move abroad, many seeking to reunite with families already living outside Ukraine, CES reported.
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