Ukraine has recorded a record labor shortage
At the end of June, the number of job openings in Ukraine was nearly double the number of officially registered unemployed people. According to the State Employment Service, employers were looking to hire about 235,000 workers, while only 93,000 citizens were officially registered as unemployed.
In total, as of the end of June 2026, 147,000 people were using the services of the State Employment Service, of whom only 93,000 had official unemployed status. The largest number of job seekers is currently in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Poltava, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Lviv regions.
At the same time, the “Unified Job Portal”—which combines the database of the State Employment Service with those of Ukraine’s largest job search websites—currently lists 235,000 job openings. Thus, there are currently nearly two job openings for every registered unemployed person, and the total labor shortage stands at about 88,000 workers.
The largest number of job openings is concentrated in Kyiv, where nearly one-third of all the country’s vacancies are available. Next are Lviv Oblast (20,900 vacancies), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (17,800), Kyiv Oblast (15,500), Odesa Oblast (13,700), and Kharkiv Oblast (10,500).
The most acute labor shortage is among skilled workers. According to the State Employment Service, employers are primarily looking for:
- electricians;
- mechanics and plumbers;
- electricians;
- track workers;
- emergency repair mechanics;
- welders and electric and gas welders;
- auto mechanics;
- drivers.
The employment service attributes this imbalance to large-scale internal migration and the relocation of businesses. As a result, demand for workers is growing in relatively safe regions of the country, while economic activity in frontline territories is, conversely, declining.
As a reminder, seven people were killed as a result of a massive strike on Kyiv.
Earlier, Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing a new massive strike.
It should also be noted that the Russians last launched a massive attack on Ukraine on the night of July 2. At that time, Russian forces launched 496 UAVs of various types and 74 missiles—air-, ground-, and sea-based—of various types at Ukraine.
