Main points
- Ukraine lacks 4.5 million workers in areas such as transport, construction, industry, trade, and others.
- The labor shortage is forcing employers to raise salaries, simplify requirements for candidates, hire people without experience, and attract workers 50+, as well as talk about the need for migrant workers.
Ukraine lacks 4.5 million workers / Shutterstock
Ukraine is facing a massive labor shortage. According to the Ministry of Economy, the country lacks about 4.5 million workers, and employers are increasingly looking for people in the transport, construction, industry, trade, and services sectors.
What kind of workers does Ukraine lack the most?
As of May of this year, 230 thousand vacancies were available on the Unified Vacancy Portal, while only 141 thousand people were looking for work through employment centers, writes 24 Kanal .
The most vacancies are currently open in:
- trade – 39 thousand;
- industry – 20 thousand;
- transport – 16 thousand;
- restaurant business – 15 thousand;
- finance and medicine – 11 thousand each.
Among the professions most in demand are:
- drivers;
- sellers;
- cooks;
- engineers;
- doctors;
- electricians;
- seamstresses;
- locksmiths;
- pickers;
- loaders.
Demand in agriculture is growing separately due to seasonal work. Businesses need workers to till the land, plant crops, and protect plants.
President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine Oleksiy Miroshnychenko, in a comment to Channel 24, noted that the situation with the shortage of personnel has not changed in fact for over two years.
According to him, there is a particularly acute shortage of workers in the logistics and transport sector – this includes not only drivers, but also bus, metro, and tram workers.
Oleksiy Miroshnychenko,
President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, member of the boards of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and the State Labor Service of Ukraine
For example, the demand for seamstresses is growing from year to year. This is happening against the background of the fact that the army is growing, and accordingly, such professions are becoming necessary. The demand is also growing for professions in the energy, utilities, and construction industries.
Why don't the existing candidates on the market meet the needs of the economy?
Maria Abdulina, head of the OLX Work division, explains that the problem lies in the transformation of the economy during the war.
Maria Abdulina,
Head of OLX Work
Over the past twenty years, a stable social narrative has formed in Ukraine: after school – university, after university – office. Working professions were not prestigious, they were perceived as the choice of those who could not enter a higher education institution. Vocational education has degraded, but not because the state suddenly forgot about it, but because there was no social demand for it.
And now the country's economy is different – military, industrial, and renewable. So, it needs completely different hands.
According to her, the staffing shortage already goes far beyond the blue-collar professions and is increasingly affecting the hotel and restaurant sector and medicine.
What does this mean?
The Ukrainian labor market is entering a phase of structural personnel crisis. In fact, employers are forced to:
- compete for employees;
- raise salaries;
- simplify the requirements for candidates;
- be more proactive in hiring people without experience;
- attract employees 50+;
- talk about the need for migrant workers.
Note! The labor shortage is becoming one of the main economic problems of Ukraine. Despite hundreds of thousands of open vacancies, businesses are increasingly unable to find people even for basic positions. The situation is becoming especially difficult for industries that require physical labor or technical qualifications.
What are the reasons for the shortage of personnel in Ukraine?
In a comment 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 gap between supply and demand in the labor market.
Work.ua, in response to a request from Channel 24, also noted that among the three main reasons for the shortage of personnel are war, demographic aging, and unemployment.
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.
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What else is known about the labor market in Ukraine in 2026?
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Demand for remote work in Ukraine exceeds supply, with only 7% of vacancies being remote. Remote work is popular due to war, relocation, the desire for flexible schedules, and restrictions for certain groups of the population.
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Ukrainian employers are actively hiring foreign workers, including migrant workers from Bangladesh, due to a shortage of workers in construction, trade, and the processing industry. Hiring foreigners is 25-30% more expensive than hiring Ukrainians.