Ukraine needs 4.5 million able-bodied citizens to restore its economy - expert

Olha Pishchulina, a leading expert in social and gender programs at the Razumkov Center, said this the Labor Challenges for Ukraine's Recovery professional discussion, Ukrinform reports.

"According to expert estimates, the number of working-age people in Ukraine has decreased by 40% compared to pre-war 2021. Information from HR platforms shows that the ratio of vacancies to resumes is reaching a critical level. Before the full-scale aggression, there were two candidates for one vacancy, but now the ratio is almost one to one. According to the latest data, there were 67,000 CVs for 62,000 vacancies," she said.

Pishchulina stressed that as of today, Ukraine needs more than 4.5 million able-bodied citizens to restore the economy. She also noted that demographic and regional processes are contributing to the decline in this population.

"Currently, the number of people of retirement age is increasing, which affects the structure of the economy and the existing labour market. The regional specification also has an impact: due to population migration, the eastern part of Ukraine has been partially deindustrialised, and the agricultural sector in the south has lost its potential. Enterprises have been relocated to the rear regions of Ukraine, but it is difficult to create a military-industrial complex in the west because there have been no large industrial enterprises there until now, and there is no "industrial and technical culture" in terms of production organisation," the expert explained.

• On March 28, it was reported that without a change in the demographic strategy, Ukraine's population could fall to 28.9 million by 2041 and 25.2 million by 2051. The Ukrainian government is considering how to prevent this.