Up to 3 million students, elders, and persons with disabilities may be involved to reduce the labour market shortage. However, it is not worth expecting large-scale return of Ukrainian from abroad or arrival of a great number of foreign migrant workers until the war ends, said Oleksii Miroshnychenko, President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, at the SVITY 2024 conference of the HR Brand Ukraine Award.

As Oleksii Miroshnychenko pointed out, 1.76 million students attend vocational (vocational and technical), specialized pre-higher and higher education institutions this year. Involvement of at least half of them for a few hours per week could mitigate tension in the labour market. 

Another significant group consists of able-bodied people aged 65-75 who are professionals in their fields. At present, 413 thousand individuals of this age are employed in Ukraine, which is 11% of 3.7 million Ukrainians aged 65-75. “These people have a great work  experience, and they could be invited to come back to work. Involving at least half of them would return up to 1.2 million people to the labour market”, Oleksii Miroshnychenko pointed out. According to him, the number of workers older than 65 has grown  by 16% over the recent two years.

Able-bodied persons with disabilities comprise the third group. Of 2.55 million people in this group, 427 thousand are employed.

“Ukraine can obtain up to 3 million employees who will be able to work online, several hours a day, or in other formats. Their involvement will contribute to the development of Ukraine’s labour potential considerably”, Oleksii Miroshnychenko said.

However, adoption of substantiated decisions needs detailed information about the labour market needs. “Nobody in Ukraine can say, close to reality, how many plumbers, drivers, electricians, fitters or nurse are necessary now to some specific city or country as a whole. Even in the pre-war time, no-one could answer these questions, all the more make a real forecast for 5 or 10 years. The nearest future cannot be foreseen without real data about human resources, their age, residence and qualification”, the President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine pointed out in an article for Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly. 

Ukraine therefore needs to create a system using which one could compose and maintain a labour force balance, forecast professional personnel needs, and provide staff to critical infrastructure sectors rapidly. “Every city or territorial community head must know how many specialists are currently required to ensure the operation of critical infrastructure. And not only their number but also their skills, retirement age, and capacities of the nearest vocational education institutions to train such employees and improve their skills”, Oleksii Miroshnychenko noted.