At the Jobs & Skills 4 Ukraine forum on June 4, Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev cited a figure that demonstrates the scale: 75% of Ukrainian enterprises cannot find the workers they need. The unified job portal of the State Employment Service simultaneously registers over 200,000 open positions. Meanwhile, there are officially nearly two million unemployed people. This is not a statistical paradox, but a structural breakdown of the labor market.
Three reasons why people and employers cannot find each other
Employment expert Valentyna Havryushenko identifies three factors: mobilization, which removed a significant portion of working-age men from the civilian labor market; external migration — after February 24, 2022, at least 6.8 million people left the country; and structural skills mismatch, when candidates simply do not have what employers need.
The result is that employers are lowering requirements, raising salaries, and actively seeking people over 50, veterans, and persons with disabilities. The shortage is most acute in construction, transport, industry, and healthcare. By estimates, Ukraine lacks approximately 4.5 million workers.
What the state is offering
"We are developing a labor market forecasting system that will become the basis for state financing of education and training, retraining programs, and donor investments"
— Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev, Jobs & Skills 4 Ukraine Forum
In parallel, the deputy minister announced the launch of a digital ecosystem "Horizon" — a platform that through "Diia" will allow registration of unemployment status, receive a grant of up to 15,000 hryvnias for retraining, and will match vacancies by skills through AI-matching. The decision to launch was made back in October 2025.
The key problem with both initiatives is that they work with those who are already in the country. However, the pool of candidates is physically shrinking.
What the forecasting system cannot solve on its own
Economist Oleg Pendzyn, member of the Economic Discussion Club, states directly: to support the economy, Ukraine needs to attract 300–400 thousand labor migrants annually. Construction, agriculture, and manufacturing are sectors with the most acute shortages, where foreign workers can fill basic positions. Post-war reconstruction of the country will require an additional 4 million workers.
Meanwhile, the reality remains modest: in 2025, approximately 9,500 work permits for foreigners have been issued or renewed in Ukraine — several times less than needed.
- 75% of companies experience staff shortages (data from the European Business Association)
- 200,000+ open vacancies on the State Employment Service portal
- 4.5 million — estimated current worker shortage
- 9,500 permits for foreigners — actual scale of labor migrant attraction in 2025
The "Horizon" system and labor market forecasting are tools for better distribution of those who are here. If by the end of 2026 the Ministry of Economy does not propose a real strategy for attracting labor migrants with clear quotas and verification mechanisms, the figure of 75% will only grow — along with wages that businesses can no longer afford.
