Ukraine's labor shortage is worsening, with 78% of employers already short-staffed and 68% expecting the situation to get worse over the next year, Maria Abdullina, head of OLX Robota, told UNIAN.
Abdullina said the sharpest shortages are in blue-collar professions. She cited a joint study by OLX Robota and the European Business Association showing 73% of business hiring needs are for physical labor, including construction workers, drivers, factory staff, cooks and cashiers. Almost a third of these vacancies stay open for more than three months.
Office Jobs Remain Competitive
Abdullina said the office segment is more balanced, with stronger competition among candidates, especially in communications and digital roles. She said applications for chat operator jobs rose 247% in June 2026 compared with the same period last year, online store managers rose 155%, packers rose 109%, hospitality managers rose 94%, and SMM managers rose 67%.
Abdullina said the main labor market challenge is not an overall lack of candidates but a structural imbalance, with the highest business demand concentrated in blue-collar and technical professions.
Separately, 69% of surveyed entrepreneurs named the staffing shortage the main obstacle to running a business during the war. Ukraine's Ministry of Economy estimates the country will need 4.5 million additional workers over the next 10 years to achieve 7% annual GDP growth.
