Staff shortage in Ukraine hits record 69% — survey of industrial enterprises

69% of Ukrainian industrial enterprises named a lack of workforce as the main obstacle to business — a historic high recorded in May 2025.

These are the results of the 49th monthly survey by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER), in which 469 industrial companies participated.

The problem of workforce shortages has ranked first among business barriers for more than a year and a half, noted IER senior research fellow Yevhen Angel. According to him, the May figure of 69% indicates growing concern among enterprises about staff shortages.

At the same time, the difficulty of finding skilled workers declined slightly — from 62.3% to 60.6%. The situation with unskilled workers, by contrast, worsened: 38.4% of companies reported difficulties finding them, compared to 34.3% in April. Only 2.4% of enterprises expect employment to grow in the next three months, while 5.1% plan to send employees on forced leave.

The second most significant obstacle cited by businesses is rising prices for raw materials, supplies, and goods — 49% compared to 56% the previous month. Third place goes to the risk associated with workplace danger: in May, 44% of enterprises cited it (46% in April). Medium and large enterprises most frequently report security threats — 48% and 47% respectively. The problem is felt most acutely in frontline and central regions: more than 80% of respondents in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts cited it. In western Ukraine it is less widespread, with the exception of Rivne oblast.

Among other changes is the growing impact of falling demand for products and services: up from 26% to 38%. Logistical difficulties also intensified: the share of enterprises facing problems transporting raw materials and goods rose from 24% to 30%. The level of mentions of corruption and pressure from law enforcement or regulatory bodies remains low — 7% and 3% respectively.

Power supply disruptions in May were reported by 20% of enterprises — significantly fewer than during the winter attacks on the energy system. Meanwhile, 31% of enterprises temporarily suspended operations in April due to power outages, typically for short periods. 41% of companies operated continuously despite disruptions, while 28% experienced no outages at all (compared to 20% the previous month). Average working time losses amounted to approximately 4%. These affected micro and small enterprises most (57%), as well as the chemical industry (6%). By region, the greatest losses were recorded in Kyiv (13%) and Sumy oblast (9%).

Assessments of the government’s economic policy remain predominantly neutral: in May, 64% of enterprises responded as such. The share of positive assessments stands at 6%, negative at 25%. This imbalance has persisted since the summer of 2023.

Approximately 31 million people live in Ukrainian-controlled territory, of whom around 13 million are employed, and only 10.5 million pay the unified social contribution. These figures were cited by Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev. According to him, around 2.3 million people with disabilities are effectively not engaged in the labor market, and another approximately 800,000 people of pre-retirement age under 60 are not working. He separately emphasized that women and young people continue to face barriers to employment.

The government plans to attract an additional 4.5 million people by 2035, primarily Ukrainian citizens. In addition, the authorities expect that a labor law reform will create or legalize around 302,000 jobs and deliver an annual fiscal effect of 43.4 billion hryvnias. Businesses will be able to save around 5.3 billion hryvnias per year through the transition to employment contracts in place of paper work record books, and up to 226 million hryvnias through the digitization of HR document management.