Lack of people and women in "male" positions. How the labor market has changed due to the war and mobilization

RBC-Ukraine's article discusseswhat vacancies are difficult to fill during the war and whether businesses are hiring more women for "men's" jobs .

The material was prepared using data from the State Employment Service, comments by Yana Yermakova, Head of Analytics at the Ukrainian Retailers Association, Mykhailo Petrov, Head of Prydniprovsky Krai Agrocompany, and Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association.

With the tightening of mobilization rules, the labor market in Ukraine is changing more and more. Companies of various profiles, from construction to transportation, report a shortage of specialists. Some vacancies that were previously considered more "male" are being filled by women. But often the gender of an employee is not as important as skills, business representatives say. Many qualified personnel with knowledge of foreign languages left during the first phase of the great war, and it is difficult to fill vacancies.

Read more about the most affected industries and how businesses are coping with the challenges of the war in the article by journalist Kateryna Honcharova.

What kind of workers are in short supply and how have salaries changed

Last month, a transportation company closed its office in Lviv. Before that, they had reduced their staff in the capital by a third.

"Some drivers quit on their own: they say they don't want to travel and 'collect summonses'. Some others were mobilized and are now at the front. For now, we will focus on transportation in Kyiv region. But it's hard to make any predictions for the future," one of the company's logisticians tells RBC-Ukraine. He himself is thinking of gradually looking for work in foreign markets. He says that there are many companies in Ukraine where you can remotely plan routes for freight transport to the EU and the US. To do this, he wants to take English language courses.

There is a very large staff shortage in Ukraine in general and in retail in particular, Yana Yermakova, head of the analytics department at the Ukrainian Retailers Association, tells RBC-Ukraine. The main reasons for this are the migration of citizens abroad and mobilization.

In terms of professions, the most in-demand and most in-demand jobs over the past 12 months are sales assistants, cashiers, security guards, store managers, deputy managers, loaders, and drivers.

"The Ukrainian Retailers Association together with the online job search platform robota.ua calculated the RR-index, which shows the ratio of active candidates interacting with a vacancy to the number of vacancies on the market according to selected parameters. According to these data, there is an acute shortage of candidates for the position of sales consultant - the RR-index is 1.6. The second most scarce position with a coefficient of 3.4 is that of a cashier. Among the positions that have a shortage of candidates are also the positions of loader and driver," comments the RAU representative.

In 2023, retail companies increased the level of salaries for employees by 5% to 20%, and in some professions by up to 30%.

"This figure directly depends on the capabilities and financial capacity of companies. In 2024, companies are still planning an average of an additional 5-20% growth in the payroll. Companies usually revise salaries in the first quarter," Yermakova adds.

Despite the war, salaries in Ukraine increased in 2023. For example, on average, in the retail market, a security guard was offered UAH 11,154 in January 2023 and UAH 14,220 in December 2023. A cashier was offered UAH 12,434 in January 2023 and UAH 15,690 in December 2023, and a store manager was offered UAH 25,942 in January 2023, while in December 2023 it was already UAH 27,100 . The lowest average salary in grocery retail in Ukraine is that of a baker (UAH 16,310), and the highest is that of a commodity expert (UAH 18,470).

However, there is still a difference between the salaries offered to people and what employees want to receive. According to RAU, this difference ranges from 6% to 38% depending on the position.

Women fill "male" vacancies

In Ukraine, due to the war and mobilization, more and more women are entering "male" professions. The State Employment Service says that it is increasingly difficult to "close" vacancies in professions that were traditionally more popular with men. These include construction workers, drivers, electric and gas welders, mechanics, and electricians.

Therefore, women are more often hired for these positions. The number of women has increased in the professions of electrician, tractor driver, and mine operator. Before starting work, companies offer women appropriate training.

According to the State Employment Service, they helped 1,200 women find jobs in construction in 2023, and now they make up 38% of those working in the industry. In the "pre-war" 2021, there were only 20% of women in construction.

RBC-Ukraine describes the same trend in retail. Traditional gender roles in certain professions have long been changing there. In particular, due to the lack of applications from men. More and more women are being invited to work as security guards, drivers, and loaders.

"This trend is already noticeable in the grocery retail and gas station segment. ATB, one of the largest supermarket chains in Ukraine, hires women as security guards and loaders. The company conducts special training beforehand. And in the national network of UPG gas stations, women already hold positions of drivers, gas station attendants, loaders, and security guards," the RAU explains.

Some industries still have a more "masculine" face. For example, agriculture is more male-dominated due to the fact that there is a lot of hard physical work, Mykhailo Petrov, head of Prydniprovsky Krai, tells BC-Ukraine. At his company, the proportion of men to women has not changed during the war. He says the situation is similar for his colleagues at other companies.

"Now it is not a problem to see a female drone operator. This includes intellectual work. But there are professions in our industry where a woman simply cannot stand it physically, and where she risks losing her health. I would not put a woman in charge of changing wheels in a tractor. I would not put her as a welder or load heavy loads. That's why I don't think it's possible to replace a man with a woman everywhere," Mykhailo is convinced.

Rising costs in agriculture

During the war, many problems arose with the search for workers in agriculture. Due to increased mobilization, agricultural enterprises are forced to "buy" specialists from other companies. As a result, salary costs are rising, says the head of an agricultural enterprise.

"I can't put just anyone in charge of valuable resources, I have to look for specialized specialists. Salary costs are higher, because the point of fairness is also important: if you raise the salary of one employee, you don't want to leave another without a raise. Almost all high-performing businesses have significantly optimized their staff and trained highly productive and versatile specialists, so mobilizing even 20% of their staff carries significant risks for such companies," says Mikhail Petrov.

"It is important for the country to hold the frontline and to have a business that pays taxes. Some people have to be mobilized, it is a necessity, he says. "But they take away qualified engineers, who then write that they were assigned to dig dugouts, not to repair tanks. That's why I have big questions about the allocation of resources," the farmer adds.

The shortage of personnel, he believes, will have the worst impact on companies that rely on narrow specialists: a company like Intel may experience interruptions in chip production if 5 out of 100 employees are mobilized. Petrov assures us that the situation is almost the same with engineers at agricultural enterprises.

"We had one person harvesting, say, 5,000 hectares of crops a year with a combine harvester. And, in the absence of a crew, I have to spend an additional $200,000 to hire all this equipment and specialists. The worst will be when it starts to affect quality and quantity. Increased costs and reduced yields will mean a drop in production and a drop in GDP," the entrepreneur says.

Ukraine has a reservation program for some employees of critical infrastructure companies. The company has the opportunity to book 50% of the employees who are liable for military service. Mikhail Petrov sees several problems with this. One of them is that the company applies for the reservation, disclosing the personal data of the employees to the General Staff, and instead of being reserved, they are mobilized.

"We define employees as critical, because we cannot do without them. But they are the first to be taken to war. It's impossible to appeal: the military enlistment offices do not formally violate anything. If we have agreed on adequate rules of interaction in wartime, then we must adhere to them. But instead of looking for the conditionally unemployed, some military commissariats, having received a package of documents from our employees, simply hand them military calls. Last year, we paid UAH 230 million in taxes to the budget, we have a mobilization task from military administrations and the status of a critical enterprise, but instead of cooperation, we have these problems," he complains.

How to make plans in a time of war

The number one problem in the business community right now is the shortage of labor and difficulties in filling vacancies. To stay afloat and compete, companies need employees, says Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"Last year, many international projects entered Ukraine, offering wages in international currency. Among the requirements was knowledge of English, but many people with such skills went abroad or were mobilized to the Armed Forces, the expert says.

"Many large Ukrainian or international companies used to think that they could easily recruit active professional people with good skills before a full-scale war. But now it is difficult. Companies see this and think: okay, we'll hire from those who are available. But then it takes a lot of time to train a specialist. It often takes more than a week, and this is an additional cost," she describes the trend.

Of course, people apply for such vacancies. But these are often not the ones who meet the requirements. And many men do not consider official recruitment because it requires interaction with the TCC. Therefore, fewer and fewer agree to formal contracts.

"It's bad for companies that work in the black and pay all taxes. And now we need to somehow maintain a balance between preventing companies from closing down and ensuring that we have success on the frontline," the expert adds.

IT companies have similar "trends": the number of specialists active in the market has also decreased. But the industry has also been affected by the fact that foreign companies are no longer ordering Ukrainian specialists because of the war in general, says Anna Derevyanko. Previously, many Ukrainian IT specialists earned their living in foreign markets.

"IT specialists also have a lot of questions about traveling abroad to attract clients and projects. The issue of business travel abroad is still unresolved. And foreigners should be attracted to come to Ukraine. So that they can see with their own eyes that there are relatively safe regions where they can do business. But Ukraine is a "red zone" in terms of travel insurance, which is expensive for foreigners. There should be more information abroad about the fact that Ukrainians can do business, albeit in extremely difficult conditions," says the interviewee.

However, this still won't solve the issue of staff shortages in the country, she notes. Settlement of the issue of booking employees and clear rules of mobilization can help. With transparent rules of the game, businesses will know what to expect, and then, even during the war, they will be able to make plans for the future.

"However, I see that entrepreneurs will still try to stay in the country and expand their activities. To contribute to the economy of our country, to pay taxes. And to develop technologically, which will also help our military at the front," Anna Derevyanko is convinced.

Author: Kateryna Goncharova