An international seminar was held in Budapest, dedicated to the situation on the labour market of Ukraine, EU countries and other states where Ukrainian refugees are fleeing the war. 

The event was jointly held by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Labour Authority (ELA), and its main topic was mitigating the risks of labour exploitation, trafficking in human beings, forced labour and undeclared work of displaced persons from Ukraine.

Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, joined the discussion online with the participation of heads of international organizations, as well as specialized departments and institutions of European countries. 

Mrs. Tetiana thanked the entire European community for the sincere and unprecedented support of Ukraine and its people at this difficult time. She spoke about the significant damage that the armed aggression of the russian federation caused to the economy, infrastructure and business of Ukraine. And, as a result, caused negative consequences for the labour market.

In particular, the deputy minister emphasized that according to international expert assessments, more than 6.4 million Ukrainians went abroad because of the war. Approximately 7.7 million people have become internally displaced.

5 million IDPs have lost their jobs, while about 3 million people who belong to the labour force are still abroad because of the war.

“The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians who left Ukraine are women, children and people over 60 years old. The ILO estimates that 2.75 million people who left are of working age. Of whom, 43.5% (or 1.2 million) worked before hostilities began and left or lost their jobs later. Two-thirds of such Ukrainians have a higher education, and almost half (49%) were employed in highly qualified professions,” Tetiana Berezhna said.

The Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine emphasized that in view of the situation, along with the humanitarian and social areas of cooperation traditional for the UN, it is expedient to implement measures aimed at labour market support and development:

“Creation of conditions for Ukrainian citizens to exercise their right to work and receive income from it both in Ukraine and abroad. The support of international partners in improving the humanitarian situation of the civilian population, the establishment and intensification of Ukraine’s receipt of international technical, financial and humanitarian aid will contribute to the recovery of Ukraine’s economy.”

During the seminar, the participants developed recommendations that should help respond in a timely and effective manner to the risks that the war causes in the labour market. The set of recommendations contains developments in four main areas, which are prevention, protection, access to justice and international cooperation.

For reference

According to the data of the system for monitoring the number of existing population, which is based on the data of mobile operators (Population Movement Dashboard), the daily number of people who were outside Ukraine during April-September 2022 was about 3 million people. As of 25 September 2022, it reached 3.2 million people. At the same time, the distribution by social status was as follows: 42% were employed, 17% – unemployed, 8% – students, 23% – retired, 10% – unable to determine.

By age group, the above-mentioned number of persons who were abroad was distributed as follows: 7% were people under the age of 20, 11% – 20-29 years old, 21% – 30-39 years old, 16% – 40-49 years old, 33% – over 50 years old, 12% – unable to determine.