The exodus of men aged 18-22 has had an impact on the Ukrainian labor market. In some industries, employers have felt the shortage of workers particularly acutely, and businesses have had to find ways to compensate for the reduction in the number of candidates.
68% of employers have experienced an increased shortage of workers
Work.ua data allows us to see how the behavior of candidates on the labor market in Ukraine has changed. At the same time, the response rates themselves do not answer another important question: to what extent these changes have been felt by businesses. After surveying 967 employers, the results showed that 68% of respondents have experienced an increased shortage of workers to one degree or another. At the same time, only 7% of employers noted that the exodus of men aged 18-22 has not affected the shortage of personnel.
It seems interesting that only 7% of employers responded that the exodus of this group has not affected the shortage, since they have started hiring workers of other age and social groups. It can be cautiously assumed that employers are still not very actively adapting their hiring to market changes and continue to focus on those categories of employees they are used to filling vacancies with, the study says.
In some responses in the “Other” category, employers drew attention to one more point. According to them, their female partners could be fired and go abroad along with young men.
This could potentially explain the slight decrease in activity among women aged 18-22. At the same time, Work.ua warns against broad conclusions: individual employer responses cannot be automatically extended to the entire labor market.
Where the shortage of workers is felt most acutely
There are industries where employers most often reported a noticeable increase in the shortage of personnel. These included:
hotel and restaurant business;
retail trade;
construction industry;
woodworking;
food industry;
wholesale;
metallurgical industry;
auto business and auto service;
mechanical engineering;
transport and logistics.
The researchers also compared the results of the employer survey with data on the behavior of candidates on Work.ua. Here, the intersection of two independent data sets is noticeable:
In the hotel and restaurant business and retail trade, a significant share of candidates is traditionally young people.
At the same time, the number of men aged 18-22 who responded to vacancies in the categories “Hotel and restaurant business, tourism” and “Retail trade” during the year decreased by approximately 29%.
That is, it is precisely those industries where young candidates are an important part of the potential personnel reserve that are among those where employers most often talk about an increasing shortage of workers.
