Hundreds of thousands of people leave Ukraine every year to work.
According to forecasts, by 2023 3 million able-bodied Ukrainians will go abroad in search of work, reports the Chronicle.info with reference to Channel 24.
About what will happen to labor migration in Ukraine in 2022, why do we traditionally occupy high places in the ratings of countries from which we leave to work, and is it possible to do something about this?
Where Ukrainians most often look for work
According to the World Migration Report 2022, Ukraine ranks 8th in the list of countries whose citizens go to work abroad, with an indicator of 5.5-6 million people. Of these, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians worked in Poland.
Over the past two years, the number of labor migrants from Ukraine who went to Poland increased by 23.8%. And over the past year, the number of Ukrainian workers grew by 19.2%. Gremi Personal, an international employment company, talks about this with reference to data from the Social Insurance Fund of Poland.
At the same time, there is still a labor shortage in Poland, so the demand for workers from Ukraine continues to be significant.
In general, Poland remains one of the most popular destinations for Ukrainian labor migration. There are several reasons. Firstly, Poland is a neighboring country, a member of the European Union, a country with a higher standard of living than in our country, and working conditions in Poland meet European standards,
— the results of the grc.ua study say.
What other countries are popular among Ukrainians
However, Ukrainians travel not only to Poland. The top popular countries consistently include Russia, Italy, the Czech Republic and even the USA.
There are quite a few reasons for such migration. Ruslana Berezovskaya, head of the expert and analytical center for the grc.ua recruitment portal, said that it is:
Senior economist at the Center for Economic Strategy (CES) Oleksandra Kolomiets added that wages in Ukraine are much lowerthan in neighboring countries. At the same time, access to the labor markets of neighboring countries is free. This has always contributed to the informal employment of our migrants abroad, in the traditional «shadow» sectors of employment — domestic work, construction, small-scale production.
In addition, experiencing a shortage of labor, European countries are pursuing a special policy of attracting workers from abroad. Employment conditions are being simplified, migration amnesties are being carried out. Poland, the main country of destination for Ukrainian labor migrants, is very active in this regard.
Oleksandra Kolomiets, Senior Economist, CEC
Olga Chubenko, founder of Jobian.com, an online job abroad service, gave the example that in neighboring Poland this figure is several times higher: there the minimum wage is «net» for 2022 is from PLN 2061.67 to PLN 2363.57 (approximate amount in hryvnias 14,430 — 16,550 hryvnias), while in Ukraine the minimum wage today is 6,500 hryvnias, and from 1.10.2022 it is planned to raise it to 6,700 hryvnias .
Young people do not see their future in Ukraine, they do not believe that they can develop in the profession here, and not abroad. But in fact, all Ukrainian companies in all areas need qualified personnel, and there is a struggle for them. Enterprises are constantly trying to offer the best average working conditions on the market, competitive wages. Therefore, I am convinced that talented young people in Ukraine have many prospects for development,
— said Victoria Kondrashikhina, HR Director of JSC «Farmak».
What will happen to labor migration in 2022
Hope that labor migration in Ukraine will decline in 2022, unfortunately, is not necessary. Experts are confident that this year Ukrainians will continue to actively travel abroad.
Ruslana Berezovskaya noted that this forecast was confirmed by the fact that in 2021, after the removal of quarantine restrictions, the employment rates of our fellow citizens abroad very quickly reached the pre-quarantine level.
In 2021, as a result of successful vaccine campaigns, European labor markets began to recover and entry conditions were eased. Consequently, the demand for Ukrainian labor abroad increased, and with the opening of borders, it became possible to satisfy it. And labor migrants, as expected, began to return to their countries of destination,
— Alexandra Kolomiets explained.
Victoria Kondrashikhina said that the company, like many others in Ukraine, acutely feels the outflow of personnel abroad, especially young people. The lack of personnel in the field of science is especially noticeable.
I also consider the trend towards an increase in non-return migration to be alarming. Young people go abroad and choose to stay there. Therefore, the state and employers should work systematically in the development of the labor market in Ukraine,
— the expert emphasized.
Olga Chubenko is sure that the part of Ukrainians who leave to work according to the worked out scenario will continue to form the main flow of labor migrants in 2022. The trend will be growing, since the majority of Ukrainians have already been vaccinated, so the procedure for crossing the border and entering the EU zone for a long time will not differ from the pre-Covid one for them.
As for people who thought, but did not dare to go to work abroad, the current situation in the information field, periodic aggravations at the border and a tense agenda can accelerate the decision in favor of employment in the European Union. Analyzing requests to our website since the beginning of this year, we see that there has been an increase in requests from Ukrainians who do not yet have experience working abroad. Candidates are interested in the nuances, prepare documents and select work.
Olga Chubenko, Founder of Jobian.com, an online service for working abroad
How can you fix the situation with migration
To change the unfavorable situation with migration, which has been aggravated for years, is not yet so easy, especially in the near future. But there are steps you can take to fix this in the future. Oleksandra Kolomiets is confident that labor migration from Ukraine will not stop in the short and medium term. But its scale will decrease if real wages grow, if new jobs appear in labor-surplus regions due to the improvement of the investment climate.
In addition, it is important to pursue a policy of reintegration of labor migrants who want to reduce their workload and return to Ukraine. A significant part of them would like to spend their earnings on starting a business in Ukraine. This needs to be promoted,
— the expert added.
Victoria Kondrashikhina emphasized that it is always important for business to be a company in which one wants to work. And this is achieved not only by offering a competitive salary (which is actually a temporary motivator), but also by investing in their own development, in the innovativeness of production, in scientific developments. It is important for Ukrainians to see that there are many European-level companies in our country and therefore it is not necessary to travel abroad in order to have decent working conditions.
Olga Chubenko explained that the steady demand for Ukrainian labor resources is the result of economic competition. Unfortunately, today the Ukrainian economy does not have the ability to compete with European ones, so what we cannot overcome now, we must try to lead.
In particular, it is necessary:
- protect the rights of migrant workers when going to work abroad, actively counter fraud at the legislative level through the introduction of European standards in international employment;
- toughen liability for fraud in international employment;
- to encourage Ukrainian labor migrants to spend more money earned in Ukraine and invest in Ukraine;
- to take into account the pension experience gained abroad;
- not to take benefits and subsidies if they work for border.
In addition, we must adapt the legislation by creating an appropriate regulatory framework that regulates not only the processes of labor migration from Ukraine, but also the aspect of employment of Ukrainians ev who have experience of working abroad, but do not want to emigrate, remaining faithful to their homeland,
— summarized Olga Chubenko.