In Ukraine, the hiring of employees has sharply increased: research

In Ukraine, in 2025, most employers resumed hiring after a pause caused by the war and economic uncertainty. This was reported by the director of the State Employment Service Yulia Zhovtyak during a specialized forum, presenting the results of a new labor market research. This is reported by Ukrinform.

According to her, 67% of enterprises this year have again started attracting personnel, primarily for key production and service positions, without which stable business operation is impossible. The labor market is gradually transitioning into a stabilization phase, and by the end of 2025, employers expect even a slight increase in employment.

Business Plans for Hiring Employees

According to the research, in 2025, enterprises planned to hire about 112 thousand employees, and in 2026, this figure will rise to 117 thousand people. At the same time, the real short-term demand from businesses is estimated much higher.

According to estimates from the State Employment Service, the demand from employers for the near future is as follows:

• from 500 thousand to 1 million employees;

• the highest demand is concentrated in Kyiv, Kyiv, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions;

• the processing industry leads among sectors.

Who Employers are Looking For

The most in-demand professions remain:

• drivers;

• welders;

• machinists and locksmiths;

• teachers;

• seamstresses.

At the same time, about 70% of all vacancies in Ukraine fall on only 105 professions out of more than two thousand officially declared. This indicates a structural imbalance and a severe shortage of qualified skilled labor.

More than half of enterprises also plan to increase salaries by 10–20% in 2026. The growing role of training, retraining, and confirming professional skills is noted separately. The level of trust from businesses towards the State Employment Service remains high - the average assessment of cooperation is 4.76 out of 5.

It should be noted that the labor market in Ukraine lost up to 95% of vacancies in key sectors.