Agriculture is among the industries with the greatest shortage of personnel. Currently, almost 39% of agricultural companies in Ukraine face difficulties in finding staff, according to the study “Assessment of the Labor Market in Ukraine 2024–2025,” conducted by Helvetas Ukraine in cooperation with the State Employment Service and the Federation of Employers of Ukraine.
“In all the surveys we conduct among UAA members, labor market issues consistently remain among the most pressing. This primarily concerns staff shortages, especially qualified specialists. But to be honest, the main problem is mobilization,” said Dmytro Kokhan, deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, during the presentation of the study.
He stressed that the defense of the country and the protection of Ukrainian land are undoubtedly a priority. At the same time, the agricultural sector, like many other sectors of the economy, is acutely feeling the pressure on human resources caused by mobilization processes. Urbanization and the outflow of young people from rural areas are significant challenges for the agricultural sector, making it difficult to find workers locally.
“It is a big challenge to attract young people to agriculture. But we are already working at our level: the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, together with SvitOsvit, has introduced the Agrosphere educational program in schools. This is an optional course that introduces students to the modern agricultural sector. It is currently being implemented in 150 schools, with another 85 teachers undergoing training so that next year we will cover more than 230 educational institutions,” said the deputy head of the UAA.
Kokhan also drew attention to the problem of the quality of vocational education.
“The agricultural machinery used by our enterprises changes radically every five years. But educational institutions often lack modern material and technical resources. If a teacher shows students old models of equipment, but the company needs to work with modern ones, it takes another year and a half to train the employee on the job. The state must invest in education and develop it in partnership with business,” concluded the UAA representative.
About 55,000 employers, who provide jobs for over 4.2 million people, took part in the study “Assessment of the Ukrainian Labor Market 2024-2025.”
