- 1 Is there a shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian market?
- 2 Which regions have the worst human resources situation?
- 3 What are the current trends in candidate selection?
- 4 Which professions are experiencing the greatest shortage of workers and are salaries changing?
- 5 What can be done to stabilize the labor market?
- 1 Is there a shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian market?
- 2 Which regions have the worst human resources situation?
- 3 What are the current trends in candidate selection?
- 4 Which professions are experiencing the greatest shortage of workers and are salaries changing?
- 5 What can be done to stabilize the labor market?
The labor market in Ukraine is experiencing a serious crisis – there are more vacancies than people who can fill them. The shortage of personnel has become a key trend in 2025 – 2026. The greatest difficulties are in the following areas: labor specialties, transport, medicine, construction.
In addition, to all this are added other problems related to the departure of young men abroad, as well as demographic trends that exacerbate the shortage of personnel.
24 Channel learned what the main factors of the staff shortage are, in which professions there are not enough workers, and how the situation can be corrected to attract more and more workers.
Is there a shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian market?
NBU data shows that the business activity index (BIA) in December 2025 was 49.2 compared to 49.4 in November of the same year. At the same time, compared to the figure in December 2024 of 45.9, it is significantly higher.
Thus, the factors that restrain economic activity in Ukraine, in addition to the further deterioration of the security situation, prolonged power outages, rising costs, etc., also include a shortage of qualified personnel.
What does the IODA indicator mean: on this scale, if the indicator is above 50, it signals expected growth, and if below 50, it signals an expected contraction.
In a commentary for Channel 24, employment expert Valentyna Gavryushenko said that the reasons for the shortage of workers in the labor market vary depending on the business sector.
These reasons include both war and mobilization, as well as external migration. Demographic changes also play a role, as the war accelerated these processes, especially among the working-age population.
Valentina Gavryushenko
HP Manager
It is also worth paying attention to the reason related to the structural mismatch of skills. That is, applicants often do not have the skills that employers need. This exacerbates the “supply and demand gap” in the labor market.
In response to a request from Channel 24, Work.ua also noted that among the 3 main reasons for the shortage of personnel are war, demographic aging, and unemployment.
- Labor outflow due to war
The key reason for the labor shortage remains the sharp reduction in the workforce due to the full-scale war.
According to the UN, there are about 5.3 million Ukrainians abroad, a significant part of whom are people of working age.
Additionally, approximately 700,000 people have been mobilized into the Defense Forces, while part of the population remains in the temporarily occupied territories.
New rules for the departure of men under the age of 22 also created additional pressure on the labor market,
– the company adds.
- Demographic aging of specialists in scarce professions
An important role is played by the aging of personnel in key professions for the economy and the slow influx of young specialists. The most scarce professions remain blue-collar professions, production, transport, logistics, and medicine, and this list is almost unchanged.
In these areas, a significant proportion of workers are people over 55 years old, who will retire in the coming years. At the same time, young people systematically do not choose these professions and prefer oversaturated specialties, which creates a failure in generational change.
- Structural unemployment
In Ukraine, there is a simultaneous shortage of personnel and difficulties with employment for some job seekers, which is explained by the phenomenon of structural unemployment.
The relocation of businesses to the western regions has not been accompanied by the relocation of relevant specialists. A significant part of the people who moved from the east and center of the country have experience in industry and production, while business in the western regions is actively developing in the field of service, food production and tourism,
– explained in Work.ua.
We remind you! At the beginning of 2025, during an interview with “RBK-Ukraine”, the director of the Employment Service of Ukraine, Yulia Zhovtyak, reported that if at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022 there was a shortage of vacancies, then today there is already a shortage of personnel.
In which regions is the situation with personnel the worst?
Work.ua states that the current situation with the shortage of personnel is difficult in all regions, but, of course, there are regions where it is most difficult.
In January, the lowest competition among job seekers was recorded in Kherson, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Zakarpattia regions.
Havryushenko singles out the east and south of the country, as well as small towns and villages. For example, Donetsk, Luhansk, and parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions have suffered significant job losses due to hostilities and the occupation of the economy.
In rural areas, especially where the front line is close or where the population has decreased, the acute labor shortage is felt more strongly. Although if there are communities and large companies or industries in the area – they keep staff in rural areas and support communities,
— the expert noted.
The situation is relatively better in large cities, such as Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Kyiv, where the labor market is more active.
However, Gavryushenko adds that despite this, significant needs are still being recorded in cities, especially in technical specialists, drivers, IT, and service professions.
Note! In August 2025, there were 24 vacancies per job seeker in Kyiv, according to data from the State Employment Service. At that time, this was the highest figure among cities and regions.
What are the current trends in candidate selection?
A study from OLX Jobs emphasizes that due to the staffing crisis in 2025, employers have increased their hiring of older people, as well as people with UBD status and disabilities.
In addition, according to employment expert Valentyna Gavryushenko, one of the methods for employers to overcome the shortage of personnel has been to attract women to professions that are stereotypically considered “male.”
For example, women are becoming trolleybus, tram, forklift, and truck drivers. According to official employment service data, in 2025, tens of thousands of women began working in positions that were previously considered exclusively “male”,
– adds Havryushenko.
Instead, Work.ua emphasizes that despite the fact that there is no mass employment of women in professions that are considered “male”, the demand for them may increase in the future.
- The State Service claims that 763 women in Ukraine are studying or have already learned “male” professions.
- Women's participation in IT fields is also increasing, primarily in software development, testing, and cybersecurity.
We also see an increasing presence of women in the military and law enforcement sectors: they are increasingly occupying not only administrative or support positions, but also technical and managerial roles,
– they say in Work.ua.
Which professions are experiencing the greatest shortage of workers and are salaries changing?
Valentyna Havryushenko includes logistics and transport, including drivers, as well as construction, technical specialties, mechanical engineering, and metallurgy, among such sectors.
Currently, due to high demand for workers and limited supply, wages are rising across Ukraine, especially in areas with acute staff shortages,
– says the expert.
Therefore, many companies increased rates by 10-20% in 2025 to attract employees.
Work.ua analyzed that the most acute shortage of personnel remains stable in the categories: security, working specialties, construction, medicine, transport, etc.
Critical industries (manufacturing, transportation, and blue-collar occupations) are dominated by workers aged 55+, who will be leaving the labor market in the coming years. At the same time, young people are systematically not entering these professions,
– they add there.
The shortage of personnel directly affects both the level of salaries and working conditions.
- In 2025, the average salary in Ukraine increased by 20% to 27,500 hryvnias, and one of the key factors in this growth, on par with inflation, is precisely the shortage of workers.
- Wages grew the fastest in industries with chronic shortages, namely: blue-collar professions and production saw a 25% increase in wages, logistics, warehousing, foreign economic activity – 22%, and construction and architecture – 21%.
What can be done to stabilize the labor market?
Work.ua notes that one of the most effective tools remains professional retraining focused on scarce specialties.
In addition, companies are more actively hiring people without experience to close the personnel shortage: if in 2023 vacancies without experience amounted to 36%, then in 2025 their share increased to 47% – almost half of all vacancies.
It is also worth paying attention to the need to retain employees, because raising salaries alone is no longer a sufficient competitive factor.
In particular, the demand for remote work significantly exceeds the supply: about a third of all responses are for remote vacancies, while the share of such offers is only 6-7%.
– the company says.
Looking ahead, experts predict that after the war, Ukraine will not be able to sustain economic activity without attracting foreign labor. Such workers will have to fill gaps in industries with chronic shortages.
And according to Valentyna Havryushenko, stabilizing the labor market is impossible without state participation.
- Among the key steps, she names the development of a professional retraining program and increased funding for vocational education and dual education.
- As well as creating conditions for the return of Ukrainians from abroad – in particular through housing programs, compensation, and the possibility of remote work.
- It is important to have flexible employment formats, inclusiveness, and overcoming age and gender stereotypes.