The Labor Market of Ukraine: Why Employers Prefer Youth

The State Employment Service has published data regarding the demand and supply in the labor market based on the age of job seekers.

According to the Employment Service, in 2025, the age of job seekers is inversely proportional to the demand of employers. This means that the demand dictates the need for the youngest worker, while the number of older job seekers is increasing.

Currently, the age distribution of job seekers is as follows (due to rounding, the total is slightly less than 100%):- 15-19 years old - 2.5% of the total number of Employment Service clients,- 20-24 years old - the figure rises to 6%,- 25-29 years old - 6.4%,- 30-34 years old - 10%,- 35-39 years old - 13%,- 40-44 years old - 13.5%,- 45-49 years old - 14%,- 50-54 years old - 14%,- 55+ years old - 20%.The number of the youngest job seekers is almost 10 times lower than the number of the oldest.

Popularity of Vacancies by Age Groups

According to the Department of Labor Market Analysis and Monitoring of Employment Program Effectiveness, people aged 15-19 most often target vacancies for unskilled positions. Among them, sellers, hairdressers, and tractor drivers prevail.The next age category is 20-24 years old. Here, professionals and specialists begin to appear. The most popular vacancies among people in this age group are: sales assistant, teacher, general worker, administrator, and cashier.Analyzing the data on demand and supply in the labor market by age, it is possible to see which vacancies are most popular among different age groups. Accordingly, it can be assumed which categories of workers are most needed by certain sectors of the labor market.