Salaries for a number of professions have risen sharply in Ukraine
A study by the OLX Robota platform for February 2026 revealed a steady upward trend in wages across nearly all blue-collar sectors compared to last year.
According to the portal, the largest increases were seen in construction painter positions, where wages rose by 43% to 40,000 UAH, as well as for assemblers and foremen—by 34% and 33%, respectively. Median pay for bricklayers reached 56,000 UAH, which is 32% more than last year, while in the manufacturing and construction sectors, wages for most specialists rose by 10–20%.
Despite the financial growth, the number of job offers from employers on the platform has significantly decreased for most professions. The sharpest drop in demand was recorded for welders in construction (–89%) and tile setters (–52%); there is also a 20–25% decrease in demand for construction workers and carpenters. At the same time, an abnormal surge in demand for workers is observed only for order pickers—nearly 12 times higher—and welders in industry—more than 6 times higher.
High competition among job seekers persists in the labor market, sometimes significantly exceeding the number of available vacancies. Specifically, there are an average of 21 applications per job posting for a packer and 18 applications for a general laborer in construction. This indicates that despite a general decline in employer activity, interest among professionals in blue-collar roles remains high, allowing companies to fill certain vacancies more quickly. The only profession where a slight 3% decrease in median wages was recorded was welders in the manufacturing sector.
Earlier, the State Employment Service and specialized job search platforms recorded a sharp increase in demand for blue-collar workers and specialists in the country’s reconstruction sector in early 2026.
Analysts at OLX Robota analyzed how the labor market in Ukraine changed in 2026 compared to pre-war 2022. According to their data, the number of job openings increased by 13%, while the number of applications decreased by 3.5%.
