Ukraine records highest number of job vacancies since start of full-scale invasion

The number of job vacancies in Ukraine reached its highest level last month since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Opendatabot said on Oct. 6.

There were 105,000 vacancies on the website Work.ua in September.

Kyiv Oblast took the top spot with 34,576 job offers, followed by Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (10,153), and Lviv Oblast (9,994). Together with Odesa and Kharkiv Oblast, the five regions account for 62% of all job vacancies in Ukraine.

Regions with active hostilities such as Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson predictably have the lowest number of job offers. Partially occupied Zaporizhia Oblast, one of Ukraine’s industrial heartlands, still had 1,899 vacancies.  

Despite the large number of job offers, the number of candidates is dropping. New and updated resumes on Work.ua decreased by 4% from August to 335,000.

The primary job seekers are sales consultants, administrators, sales managers, accountants, and drivers.

Even Ukraine’s IT sector which previously saw fierce levels of competition last year dropped by 4% in a month to 18,700 candidates. The number of job offers from IT companies declined by 3% in August to 9,964 jobs.

At the same time, entrepreneurs involved in trade and services are ordering fewer products. The city of Kharkiv recorded a huge decline of 16%, followed by Dnipro (10%), Lviv (8%) and Kyiv (7%).

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported in August that many businesses are struggling to fill positions due to the mass migration of Ukrainians abroad as well as qualification mismatches.

“Job seekers find themselves offering a certain set of skills while employers are looking for different ones,” the NBU said.

Nevertheless, the bank notes that unemployment is gradually declining in Ukraine and could fall to 16.9% in 2024 from 19% this year.