{"id":604967,"date":"2025-12-01T09:07:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/604967\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T09:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:07:24","slug":"ukraine-faces-labor-shortage-as-russias-war-empties-factories-and-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/604967\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Faces Labor Shortage As Russia’s War Empties Factories And Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

MAKIV, Ukraine \u2013- Desertions, draft dodging, and a minimum conscription age of 25 have contributed to a manpower problem that hampers Ukraine\u2019s defense against a full-scale Russian invasion that will hit the four-year mark in February if peace is not achieved<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Kyiv\u2019s need to get people to the front is also creating a manpower problem in the rear, with labor shortages hitting many industries and some towns virtually empty of conscription-age men.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a phenomenon fueled by both conscription and flight<\/strong><\/a>, as millions of Ukrainians have left the country. Some of them are men of conscription age who have gotten out despite what is now a bar on most men aged 23-60 from leaving Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shortage of people with technical skills and education is catastrophic,\u201d Oleh Penzin, a Ukrainian economist, told RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n

According to the State Employment Center, the sharpest labor shortages are seen in education, ground transport, metal-product manufacturing, furniture production, and energy supply industries.<\/p>\n

Strategic enterprises such as defense industry companies and railways remain largely exempt from conscription, but businesses across Ukraine are struggling, political analyst Kostyantyn Batozskiy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour employee can be drafted at any time, and that\u2019s a problem,\u201d he told RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n

‘No Man To Dig A Grave For The Dead’<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Makiv, a small town in the Khmelnytskiy region in western Ukraine, draft-age men are a rare sight. Most have been drafted or left the country, and those who remain keep a low profile to avoid mobilization, sometimes carried out by groups of recruitment officers, police, or military personnel that apprehend men on the street<\/strong><\/a> and bring them in for service.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys who work at a computer can work in their apartment. But laborers\u2026go out to work, trying to earn money for their families — and they are rounded up like cattle,\u201d Kateryna, a Makiv resident who gave only her first name, told Current Time<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s \u201cno man to dig a grave for the dead,\u201d Kateryna said. She said she learned to use a chainsaw and other tools she had never used in the past in order to get along day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Conscription has made it difficult to fill jobs traditionally held by men, according to the State Employment Center, and agriculture is among the sectors that have been hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith increased mobilization, tractor drivers and machinists have changed their professions to military ones,\u201d said Oleh Khomenko, director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club. \u201cWe\u2019re now facing a shortage of qualified personnel of up to 15 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millions Have Left. Will They Return?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some farmers are hoping to recruit teenagers, who are well below conscription age, for seasonal work \u2013- a practice that goes back to the Soviet era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to take part myself — it was called an internship, but it was really work,\u201d Khomenko said.<\/p>\n

While many men and some women are serving in the army, around 6-7 million Ukrainians have left the country<\/strong><\/a> since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to the International Labor Organization, about 1.6 million adults of working age<\/strong><\/a> have left Ukraine, the majority of them women.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we manage to bring back at least 40 percent of them, that would be a huge help for the economy,\u201d Penzin told RFE\/RL, referring to men and women.<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/p>\n

Anna Adriyevska, a refugee in Scotland, has created a business community for refugees from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the labor problem in August 2024. \u201cWe cannot afford to lose our army and its reserves, but we also very much need workers for our jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must find balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government and businesses have been scrambling for solutions.<\/p>\n

In European countries with large Ukrainian communities, Ukraine has been setting up Unity Hubs to provide support and advice both for Ukrainians integrating abroad and for those considering voluntary return when it becomes possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new project, and there isn\u2019t much to say yet,\u201d Batozskiy told RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n

Danylo, a 17-year-old refugee who lives in Germany and gave only his first name, said he has no plans to return<\/strong><\/a> to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I go back to my hometown, I\u2019ll have to start from scratch,\u201d he told RFE\/RL. \u201cI literally have nothing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back home, some Ukrainian businesses are bringing in foreign workers or considering doing so.<\/p>\n

In March, Lamella, a furniture manufacturer in Tyachiv, on the Romanian border in the western Transcarpathia region, far from the front lines, hired workers from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian<\/p>\n

Ukrainian refugee Viktoria Blinova rides a skateboard in Barcelona<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many women — about 60 percent — working on small-part machines, but there are positions that require male strength,\u201d Yaroslav Shcherban, Lamella\u2019s commercial director, told RFE\/RL\u2019s Ukrainian Service.<\/p>\n

Former Economy Minister Tymofiy Mylovanov told the news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda<\/strong><\/a> that Ukraine could need up to 10 million migrants to bring positive changes to the Ukrainian economy. In his opinion, they will be mostly blue-collar professionals.<\/p>\n

Batozskiy believes it\u2019s too early to make such an estimate. \u201cWe need to survive the war first and then assess what we need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Penzin also said peace may be the only thing that will really rectify the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing needed to fix the labor shortage is to end the war, then everything will be sorted with time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Borys Sachalko reported from Makiv and other locations in Ukraine; Ulvyyia Asadzade reported from Prague. RFE\/RL\u2019s Ukrainian Service and Current Time contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAKIV, Ukraine \u2013- Desertions, draft dodging, and a minimum conscription age of 25 have contributed to a manpower…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,126,6323,6324,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-604967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-features","11":"tag-russia-invades-ukraine","12":"tag-the-rundown-stories","13":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115643524602166515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}