Structural unemployment: economist believes Ukraine needs to import 400,000 labor migrants per year

Ukraine will need to import 400,000 migrant workers annually to balance the labor market.

This statement was made by Oleg Pendzin, head of the Economic Discussion Club.

According to him, Ukraine is currently facing a massive structural unemployment issue: while there are two million unemployed individuals, there is also a severe shortage of workers in skilled trades, truck drivers, and engineering and technical fields. At the same time, the country has an oversupply of lawyers, economists, and journalists.

It is worth recalling that in January, Pendzin had already stated that Ukraine had two million unemployed people, despite several industries “suffocating” due to a lack of workers.

Meanwhile, reports indicated that authorities in Zakarpattia were planning to employ 160 migrants from Bangladesh at a furniture factory. Oleg Popenko, head of the Union of Utility Service Consumers, commented on this news, pointing out that Ukraine has “hundreds of thousands” of refugees and internally displaced persons who are “jobless and struggling to survive at a biological minimum.” He also questioned the effectiveness of employment services and the rationale behind importing migrant labor.

Later, it was revealed that the Zakarpattia-based furniture manufacturer Lamella decided to bring in workers from Bangladesh because local residents were deterred by the threat of military mobilization.

It was reported that the Bangladeshi workers had begun the process of obtaining visas to move to Zakarpattia. However, instead of the originally planned 160 migrants, only 30 will actually arrive.