Main points
- At the beginning of 2026, over 111 thousand vacancies were posted in Ukraine, but only about 35% of them were filled.
- The highest percentage of vacancy closures is observed in Donetsk region (68.5%), and the average time to find an employee is 17 days.
What professions are most in demand in Ukraine / Unsplash
In early 2026, the labor market is showing activity, but with noticeable regional differences. Employers are looking for people, there are many vacancies, but they are not always closed quickly.
What are the popular vacancies in Ukraine?
In the first two months of the year, more than 41,000 employers submitted more than 111,000 vacancies, the State Employment Service writes.
Overall, about 35% of vacancies are being filled nationwide, but there are regions where the situation is much better. For example, in the Donetsk region, this figure reaches almost 68.5%.
The greatest demand is observed for the following professions:
- Driver – about 4.5 thousand vacancies;
- Food seller – over 4 thousand;
- Auxiliary workers – about 3.5 thousand.
This shows that the market needs both qualified specialists and workers in basic professions.
On average, an employer looks for an employee for 17 days. But there are exceptions: in the Donetsk region, vacancies are closed on average in 5 days.
Also high indicators in Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions – over 50% of vacancies are closed. If we look not at the percentages, but at the number of people who actually found a job, then the picture is different:
- Dnipropetrovsk region – about 4 thousand people;
- Lviv – over 3 thousand;
- Ivano-Frankivsk – approximately 2.7 thousand.
What are the advantages of official employment in Ukraine?
The current Labor Code was created more than half a century ago and was oriented towards the economy of that time, and the main tasks of the new one will be adaptation to realities and the extension of social protection to new forms of employment. About this in the commentary of Channel 24 said labor market expert Vasyl Voskoboynyk.
The main innovation of the draft Labor Code is the focus on the state's interest in ensuring maximum opportunities for official employment for the population, believes Vasyl Voskoboynyk. In return, people will receive social protection and seniority for future pensions.
Vasyl Voskoboynyk
Head of the Migration Policy Office, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of International Employment Companies
The push for official employment should be the understanding that when a person pays taxes, he has social protection from the state, he can receive sick leave, and count on vacation pay. Everything must be done in such a way that working officially is profitable, so that it is built not just on some slogans, but on the fact that a person understands why his official work will be more useful than illegal employment.
The new Labor Code will not directly solve the problem of informal employment, as it belongs more to the sphere of taxation and concerns the vision of economic development, adds Vasyl Voskoboynyk. According to the expert, cheap labor should not be an advantage for Ukraine , instead, it should focus on creating high-paying jobs.
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Labor market news in Ukraine
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