How the labor market and salary level changed in Ukraine in the second year of the war

[ad_1]

The war affected the salaries of most professions: reductions in payments, cancellation or postponement of their increases.

However, there are still positive trends: currently the labor market has an interesting situation, the total number of vacancies on the market has recovered by 85% to the indicators before the Great War.

At the same time, according to the data OLX Workthe number of job offers as of July 2023 is generally 21% higher, compared to the same period of the once record year 2021.

Such a situation for the market can be explained by the rapid growth of the need in the field of labor specialties. Also, one of the reasons is the significant reduction of the population of Ukraine, which in turn puts employers, especially in mass recruiting, in front of a labor shortage situation.

As for the level of salaries, there are cases when the level of monthly payment remained at the same level, but taking into account the change in the hryvnia exchange rate and the increase in prices, this means a significant decrease in income.

By data of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the average salary for the 1st quarter of 2023 is UAH 13,423. The official “minimum” is currently 6,700 hryvnias, although there are talks about raising it to the level of a little more than 8,000 in 2023, but the corresponding draft law has not yet been adopted.

According to OLX Job for 2023, the average salary in Ukraine is UAH 18,914. For comparison, in 2021 this indicator was UAH 15,256.

Whose wages were most affected by the war?

Management positions or highly paid specialists the corporate sector has traditionally been the first “under attack” when it was necessary to optimize the company’s expenses. Nominal salaries or the share of bonuses or benefits decreased in virtually all “office” professions and managers.

“Suffered” from all professions spheres of culture and entertainment. Unfortunately, situations where musicians are retrained as drivers or couriers have not become isolated. On the one hand, it is good that there are in-demand professions with a low entry threshold where you can start earning right away. On the other hand, this is a huge blow to the cultural development of the country in particular.

Russian aggression against Ukraine also affected the number of workers involved in the field of agriculture and the status of their salaries. Due to mining of agricultural lands, reduction of harvest, loss of sources of sales – enterprises suffered colossal losses.

Are there positive trends in the labor market?

During 2023, the wages of construction workers increased, because during the war, the need to carry out work for the reconstruction of damaged cities, houses, and the restoration of infrastructure increased.

Currently, in 2023, the median salary is 55,203 UAH, in 2022 – 40,322 UAH, and in 2021 it was 38,138 UAH. However, there is still no significant increase in vacancies in the construction sector, due to the fact that a large part of construction projects has been completely or partially stopped.

When mass reconstruction begins in various cities, a significant increase in demand for construction workers and, accordingly, an increase in their salaries are expected.

On OLX Robot, we observe a constant demand for drivers of all types of deliveries (local, long-distance, long-distance international), for the logistics of food chains and drivers of special equipment.

Compared to last year, the number of vacancies increased by 13%, the salary of drivers increased by 11%, and now its average indicator is UAH 44,559. Currently, there is a great need for the transportation of humanitarian aid, cargo and materials for the restoration of infrastructure, provision of all types of logistics and passenger transportation.

Although in fact drivers of various profiles have been in demand at all times, the current one is no exception.

It is surprisingly good to see growth in tourism after a dramatic decline in the segment since the start of the Great War. According to OLX Robot, the number of job vacancies has increased by 42% compared to last year (2022 – 3,794 vacancies, 2023 – 6,604).

Thanks to this, domestic tourism is recovering and the hospitality industry has resumed operations in relatively “safe” areas.

On the OLX Job service, we can see that the highest payment for services on the market is currently offered to representatives of blue-collar professions. Among them are individual examples of vacancies for which the greatest salary growth can be expected in the near future.

Due to the increased demand for electrical work and maintenance of electrical equipment, salary growth can be expected electricians and electrical technicians.

For our part, we also observe a consistently high demand for delivery of goods and services by e-commerce. So we are potentially expecting even more growth in engagement drivers in the field of logistics, for restoration work and, accordingly, the growth of their salaries.

Due to the increased use of machinery and equipment in various industries, including manufacturing, construction and transport, wage growth is also expected in mechanics and technical workers.

Representatives also have a high potential for salary increases construction industry. Over the last year, wages according to OLX Work increased by 27% and amounted to UAH 55,203.

One of the main factors affecting wages is the demand for services, and the demand for construction workers has begun to grow. The war has already led to the need for new construction projects, which are related to the restoration of the housing stock, infrastructure facilities, the construction of safe premises, etc.

And if now there are still not enough specialists involved in this field compared to 2021, then we expect a significant increase in the future.

It’s worth noting that while the occupations listed above may have the potential for salary growth, the actual salary growth may vary on a case-by-case basis.

Salaries now depend on many factors, such as: geographic location, proximity to the line of hostilities, state of the economy, skill level, work experience, and other factors.

[ad_2]

Original Source Link