A study showed that demand for certain workers has increased tenfold
Ukrainian businesses continue to face a severe labor shortage, which is leading to an abnormal surge in demand for production and construction workers. The most critical situation is in the assembly worker segment, where the number of job openings has increased nearly tenfold over the past year, and the average salary offered to these workers has reached 27,500 hryvnias.
This is evidenced by the results of a recent analytical study by the “OLX Robota” platform, published by the UNIAN agency.
In the manufacturing sector, employers are forced to actively compete for staff, significantly increasing the volume of job postings. In particular, a significant increase in vacancies is observed for assemblers with a median salary of over 31,000 hryvnias, unskilled workers, designers, as well as excavator operators, whose average salary is one of the highest in the industry and amounts to about 45,000 hryvnias.
A similar trend of chronic labor shortages persists in the construction and finishing sectors. Employers are much more frequently seeking electricians with a salary of 38,300 hryvnias, general laborers, installers, plumbers, and foremen. The highest financial offers in the construction sector are currently for bricklayers, whom companies are willing to pay an average of 60,000 hryvnias per month. The retail sector has also seen a revival: businesses have increased their search for supervisors with an average salary of nearly 50,000 hryvnias and merchandisers. At the same time, stable demand remains for IT specialists, despite high competition among developers in the labor market.
Maria Abdullina, Head of the "OLX Job" division, emphasized that there is currently a significant imbalance between the actual needs of businesses and the career preferences of job seekers. In contrast to the rapid growth in demand for blue-collar professions, the fields of marketing, design, advertising, and communications are experiencing a significant decline. The number of current job openings from companies in these sectors has dropped dramatically. Interest in copywriting services has fallen the most, with the number of job openings dropping by nearly 90 percent. A similar market contraction and reduction in job offers with salaries ranging from 18,000 to 27,000 hryvnias have been observed for marketers, content managers, and SMM specialists. A similar decline in employer activity has also affected administrative positions in the hospitality and restaurant industry, as well as in the beauty industry and sports, where the drop exceeded one-third. Competition among candidates in the humanities and service sectors remains consistently high, while the industrial and construction sectors continue to seek technical specialists.
In 2026, more than half of Ukrainian employers plan to raise salaries by 10–20%. Businesses are also maintaining their workforce levels, continuing to hire people, and actively employing veterans and internally displaced persons.
In Ukraine, the highest salaries among public officials are earned by employees of collegial government bodies, where the staff is smaller and the number of managers is larger.
