In Ukraine, there is a significant gender disparity among the unemployed: women make up 82% of the total number of unemployed. This phenomenon is largely related to mobilization and martial law. These data were obtained from the study “Registered Unemployment in Ukraine,” conducted as part of a joint initiative by the State Employment Service of Ukraine and Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation.
This is reported by Finway
Age and Education Level of the Unemployed
Among the unemployed, the largest share consists of individuals aged 36 to 54, while youth aged 18-25 account for only 6.4%. Over 31% of the unemployed have higher education, while 31.4% have vocational education. In certain regions, such as Kyiv, the share of individuals with higher education reaches 69.3%. However, as experts note, a high level of education does not always guarantee employment, indicating a mismatch between the supply of qualified labor and demand in the labor market.
Among the professional groups of the unemployed, professionals (29.4%) and specialists (22.4%) predominate. Meanwhile, the share of the simplest professions and agricultural professions is minimal (1.4% and 1.1% respectively), indicating a heightened demand for skilled trades and a clear qualification and regional imbalance.
Causes of Unemployment and Salary Expectations
The main reasons for unemployment, according to respondents, are personal circumstances (37.7%) and low wages (20.7%). Most unemployed individuals (78.1%) are not willing to change their place of residence for employment, which is due to personal life circumstances (74.1%) and lack of housing (32.3%). Salary expectations mainly range from 8,000 to 20,000 UAH, which is close to the average salary in Ukraine, but there are significant gender and regional differences in salary expectations: men demonstrate higher salary expectations than women.
Only 23.1% of registered unemployed individuals are willing to change professions, while 29.6% do not consider this possibility at all. Many of them explain this by stating that changing professions will not solve their problems (44.4%) and the complexity of the training process (32.2%).
“The comparison of the structure of employers’ needs with the training priorities of the unemployed indicates their structural mismatch. The unemployed mostly seek to enhance their existing level of education, while employers’ needs are primarily focused on skilled trades, which requires rapid retraining,” the survey results emphasize.