The Ukrainian industry is facing a severe labor shortage, which requires cooperation between business and government to overcome. This was stated by the Director of Sustainable Development and Human Resources Interaction at Metinvest Group, Tetiana Petruk, during the forum “Creating a Talent Pool for Key Sectors of Ukraine’s Economy,” held in Kyiv.
This is reported by Finway
Challenges for the Industrial Sector: Labor Shortage and the Need for Government Support
According to Tetiana Petruk, there are currently about 4,000 job vacancies at Metinvest enterprises, while over 8,000 employees of the company are serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since 2014, more than 11,000 employees of the Group have participated in the defense of the country, of which about a thousand have already returned to work.
“We are ready to hire all veterans. This is not a project, but a part of our present. We feel a shortage not only in quantity but also in the quality of specialists.”
Metinvest actively collaborates with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine within the framework of employment programs for military personnel and offers competitive salaries that exceed the regional average. However, as Petruk emphasized, even such conditions are insufficient for the effective reintegration of people into the industry.
She highlighted that addressing the labor crisis requires government programs for social housing, support in reserving employees, and a stable educational policy. Metinvest, for its part, is ready to invest in employee training, but business cannot solve all issues related to staffing on its own.
Integration of Education and Forecasting Labor Market Needs
The company is already collaborating with the Ministry of Education and Science to adapt educational programs to the real needs of the labor market. Metinvest has formed a corporate order for Metinvest Polytechnic University and identified the demand for specialists over the next five years.
According to Petruk, by analyzing educational programs, the company has determined which specialties will be in demand for the future development of enterprises. This will allow for the preparation of specialists who meet the requirements of the modern economy.
Metinvest enterprises in frontline cities — Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Kamianske — are currently open to all who wish to work. Today, production planning primarily depends on the number of employees rather than the availability of raw materials, which is why the company has optimized its training system and shortened the training duration.
The forum, organized by the Kyiv School of Economics with the support of the Ministry of Economy, served as a platform for discussing ways to overcome the shortage of skilled workers and create a new system of vocational training for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Metinvest Group, led by Rinat Akhmetov, has been ranked among the top 50 employers in Ukraine according to NV and Odgers due to its support for employees during the war, programs for the reintegration of veterans, and personnel development. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the company has invested over 28 billion hryvnias in the national economy and provided 9.7 billion hryvnias in assistance to Ukraine, including 5.2 billion hryvnias to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of the “Steel Front” initiative.