Ukraine’s labor shortages lead businesses to hire more women and teens

• Ukrainian truck driver Liliia Shulha, a truck driver, has found a dream job at Ukraine’s leading retailer.
• Nearly 60% of businesses consider finding skilled workers their main challenge.
• There is a noticeable shift away from gender and age bias in candidate selection.

After spending years in what she described as “boring, sedentary” office roles at several Ukrainian companies, Liliia Shulha landed her dream job as a truck driver with Ukraine’s leading retailer, Fozzy Group.

“I always dreamed about big cars. Instead of (playing with) dolls, I drove cars when I was a child,” she told Reuters.

“Now the situation is such that they take people without experience and they train. I was lucky,” said Shulha, 40, wearing a company uniform in front of a large truck.

As the war with Russia depletes the labor force, businesses are addressing critical shortages by hiring more women for traditionally male-dominated roles and turning to teenagers, students, and older workers.

Analysts say that with millions of people, mostly women and children, abroad after fleeing the war and tens of thousands of men mobilized into the army, the jobs crisis could threaten economic growth and post-war recovery. Central bank data shows that Ukraine has lost over a quarter of its workforce since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. An Economy Ministry survey of over 3,000 companies revealed that nearly 60 percent of businesses consider finding skilled workers their main challenge.

“The situation is indeed critical,” said Tetiana Petruk, chief sustainability officer at steel company Metinvest, one of Ukraine’s largest employers with a workforce of about 45,000. It has about 4,000 vacancies.

“The staff deficit that we feel has an impact on our production,” Petruk told Reuters in an online interview.

“We are not the only ones who feel the staff shortages, all companies in the regions feel that, including our contractors.”

Reuters spoke with representatives from nine Ukrainian companies, including large industrial firms, retail groups, and small private entrepreneurs. They all reported that staff shortages and a growing mismatch of skills were significant challenges.

Businesses reported that they were changing recruitment and business practices by automating processes, rotating existing staff, expanding job descriptions, re-hiring retirees, and offering more benefits, especially to younger workers. They have also had to increase wages, with the average monthly wage rising to about 20,000 hryvnias ($470) from approximately 14,500 a year ago.

“There is a noticeable shift away from gender and age bias in candidate selection as employers adjust criteria to attract needed employees,” said the Kyiv School of Economics. “This trend also extends to entrepreneurship, where the share of female entrepreneurs is growing significantly.”

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