Employers are willing to pay more: how salaries in vacancies have changed due to staff shortages

The Ukrainian labor market remains in high demand for workers in many industries. The number of vacancies is growing steadily, unlike the activity of job seekers, so employers have to compete for specialists. Read more about how the shortage of personnel affects salary offers in the RBC-Ukraine article.

The situation on the labor market

The Ukrainian labor market is offering more and more jobs, but the number of vacancies and resumes is disproportionate.

Although competition among job seekers has intensified in recent months, the ratio of applicants per vacancy is lower than in 2021.

The most in-demand jobs are blue-collar occupations, vacancies in the service sector, and retail. These data are provided in the inflation report of the National Bank of Ukraine for the third quarter of 2024.

At the beginning of December 2024, there were 224 thousand vacancies in Ukraine. In response to a request from RBC-Ukraine, the State Employment Service said that the most jobs are offered in the following areas

• in trade (42 thousand or 19% of the total number of all vacancies);
• in marketing and advertising (35 thousand or 16%);
• in transportation (23 thousand or 10%);
• in industry (17 thousand or 8%);
• in finance and audit (17 thousand or 7%);
• in cafes and restaurants (14 thousand or 6%);
• in medicine (10 thousand or 5%).

These are job offers from the Unified Job Portal, which combines data from the SES and leading Ukrainian job search sites.

At the same time, the Employment Service notes that the largest shortage of workers is currently observed in the manufacturing industry, construction, and education.

How employers compete for specialists

Due to population migration and the mobilization of people liable for military service during the war, Ukraine has a shortage of personnel.

Many companies are understaffed. In addition, companies expect labor shortages to persist and competition for employees to increase further. Wage increases have become one of the tools of this competition.

The NBU report says that the labor market shortage has fueled wage growth.

Thus, in the second quarter of 2024, real wages increased by 17.6% on average, and nominal wages by 22.1%. The high growth rate of nominal wages continued in the third quarter.

The NBU predicted that by the end of the year, real wages (adjusted for inflation) would exceed the pre-war level and continue to rise due to strong competition among employers for available labor.

It is worth noting that, according to the State Statistics Service, Ukrainian wages in the third quarter have already exceeded the level of 2021. At the same time, inflation has accelerated, slowing the growth of real incomes.

Who saw their salaries rise

Answering the question whether employers are ready to offer higher salaries to attract employees amid a staff shortage, the SPS noted that the average salary for the submitted vacancies has indeed increased.

As of the beginning of December, this figure reached UAH 22 thousand on the Unified Job Portal, which is UAH 4 thousand more than at the beginning of 2024.

During the current year, the average salary increased in most types of economic activity, in particular in the following sectors

• energy (from UAH 15 thousand to UAH 22 thousand)

• insurance (from UAH 17 thousand to UAH 24 thousand)

• communications (from 19 thousand to 26 thousand UAH);

• law (from 18 thousand to 24 thousand UAH);

• medicine (from 17 thousand to 23 thousand UAH);

• automotive business (from 25 thousand to 31 thousand UAH);

• finance (from UAH 17 thousand to UAH 22 thousand).

At the same time, the Employment Service emphasizes that the level of an employee's salary also largely depends on his or her qualifications, professional experience, and ability to work in special conditions.

In addition, employers are often willing to offer higher salaries for knowledge of a foreign language, additional competencies, etc.

According to the Work.ua portal, the average salary for vacancies in Ukraine increased by 22% over the year and reached UAH 22.5 thousand in December.

The largest increase in the proposed level of payment was for the position of "head of content department" (by 155% - up to UAH 70 thousand). Salaries for orthodontists increased by 90% (up to UAH 47.5 thousand), and for the position of producer - by 58% (up to UAH 45 thousand).

For popular vacancies of sales consultant, the increase for the year is 23% (up to UAH 19 thousand), sales manager - by 20% (up to UAH 30 thousand), driver - by 18% (up to UAH 29 thousand).

In preparation: commentary of the State Employment Service for RBC-Ukraine, information from the NBU inflation report, data from Work.ua portal.

Author: Anna Berezina