62.2% of Ukrainians believe that there is a severe labor shortage in the country. 25.4% of respondents believe that there is a shortage, but it is not serious. 6.3% do not believe that there is a problem. Another 6.1% were undecided.
These are the results of a sociological study conducted by the research company Active Group on August 16, 2025, using the SunFlower Sociology online panel.
The average salary of full-time employees in July 2025 was UAH 26,499, according to the State Statistics Service (SSS).
According to the statistics agency, the highest average salary last month was recorded in Kyiv – UAH 40,546, and the lowest in the Chernivtsi region – UAH 19,202.
The average salary in July 2025 in the field of information and telecommunications was UAH 67,222, in finance and insurance – UAH 55,994, in professional, scientific, and technical activities – UAH 34,068, in public administration and defense – UAH 33,896, in wholesale and retail trade – UAH 31,424, in industry – UAH 29,063, in transport, postal and courier services – UAH 26,612, in real estate operations – UAH 22,6987, and in construction – UAH 22,775.
The average number of full-time employees in Ukraine in July 2025 was 5.368 million people.
The wage fund for all employees in July 2025 amounted to UAH 150.361 billion, and for full-time employees – UAH 142.233 billion.
The State Statistics Service reminds that the data does not include territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and parts of territories where hostilities are (were) ongoing.
Agroholding Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, processed 123,000 tons of soybeans in January-June 2025, which is in line with last year’s figure, according to the agricultural holding’s report published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Friday.
According to the published data, the segment’s revenue in the first half of 2025 decreased by 6% year-on-year to EUR 55 million, with exports accounting for 91% (+5 p.p. year-on-year) of this revenue.
Gross profit in the soybean processing segment decreased by 41% year-on-year to EUR12 million. Gross profit margin was 21% in the first half of 2025, compared to 33% in the first half of 2024, which Astarta explained by an increase in the cost of sales. EBITDA for the first half of 2025 amounted to EUR7 million (-58% year-on-year), while EBITDA margin decreased from 28% to 13% in the first half of 2025.
According to the agricultural holding, the implementation of the investment project to build a soy protein concentrate production plant is proceeding according to schedule. Production is scheduled to start in 2026.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In 2024, Astarta increased its net profit by 34.5% to EUR83.25 million, while its consolidated revenue decreased by 1.1% to EUR612.15 million.
In the first quarter of this year, the agricultural holding’s revenue fell by 24.9% to EUR124.58 million, while net profit fell by 28.8% to EUR6.42 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, reduced its net profit by 13% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, to UAH 1.705 billion, while its revenue grew by 15% to UAH 13.518 billion.
“The main growth factors remain the development of the fixed-line business, an increase in the volume of data services and the number of Internet users, and, accordingly, revenues from services, both mobile and fixed-line,” the company said in its financial report on Friday.
According to the report, the decrease in net profit was caused by additional expenses related to the two-year deferral of payments on Eurobonds, as well as an increase in debt servicing costs due to a 1.5-fold increase in the interest rate in accordance with the new restructuring terms.
As reported, in January-March 2025, revenue increased by 14% compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 6.59 billion, while net profit fell by 24%, to UAH 697 million.
Vodafone Ukraine notes that OIBDA in the first half of 2025 increased by 12% compared to the first half of 2024, to UAH 7.17 billion, while the OIBDA margin decreased by 1.7 percentage points compared to the same period last year, to 53.1%.
The company emphasized that in the first half of the year, it increased its investments by 66% compared to the same period in 2024, investing more than UAH 3.5 billion in critical infrastructure, and in total, over 3.5 years of full-scale war, investments in Ukraine reached almost UAH 19 billion.
In the structure of investments in the first half of this year, 51% is accounted for by the construction and restoration of the network, as well as its preparation for operation during blackouts, 31% – network maintenance, 11% – fixed-line communications development, and 4% – the billing exchange program.
It is noted that the company’s net debt in the middle of this year amounted to UAH 13.65 billion: UAH 23.55 billion in gross debt, of which UAH 12.43 billion was in Eurobonds, against UAH 9.9 billion in free cash, including government bonds.
Vodafone Ukraine also noted that in July-August 2025, it paid dividends totaling UAH 97 million.
According to the report, in the second quarter of 2025, the number of customers decreased by 3.1% compared to the same period last year, to 15.4 million, but ARPU (average revenue per user per month) increased by 18.5% to UAH 136.
Vodafone announced that it had introduced innovative energy-saving technology Powerstar 2.0, based on artificial intelligence, and began connecting mobile base stations via passive xPON (1/10 Gigabit/s Passive Optical Network) optical networks, which should allow for a relatively quick transition to new mobile communication technologies – 5G and, in the future, 6G.
In addition, the modernization of the telecom infrastructure of the fixed-line operator Frinet, which has been part of the group since August 2023, has begun: replacement of the FTTB network with GPON, which will provide customers with up to 72 hours of autonomous operation and 10 times faster internet speed.
It is also noted that in May 2025, Vodafone Ukraine received and began using the 1940–1945/2130–2135 MHz radio frequencies, which previously belonged to the operator TriMob, which made it possible to increase the efficiency of spectrum use and strengthen network capacity.
According to the financial statements, in August 2025, the Group committed to participate in a joint project to build a new submarine cable system across the Black Sea, connecting Ukraine to the international transit route between Europe and Asia. The system will connect Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, and Turkey, and is expected to be completed within five years. The total cost to the group is estimated at EUR65 million.
Vodafone Ukraine has been part of NEQSOL Holding since December 2019.
New rules will come into force in Georgia that will abolish the possibility of working without a permit for citizens of countries with a visa-free regime. From 2026, legal employment will require a work permit and a corresponding residence permit, according to the Serbian Economist Telegram channel.
On June 26, the country’s parliament adopted amendments to the laws “On Labor Migration” and “On the Legal Status of Foreigners.” Now, any foreigner who does not have a permanent residence permit will be required to obtain a work permit, even if they entered the country under a visa-free regime.
Key changes
• The visa-free regime no longer grants the right to work — it only applies to entry and short-term stays.
• The concepts of “labor migrant” and “self-employed foreigner” are introduced — both categories must obtain a permit.
• Employers are required to complete the paperwork for foreign employees before they officially start work.
Who will be affected by the new rules?
According to Geostat, fewer than 3,800 labor migrants were officially registered in 2015–2023, while the actual number of foreigners working in the country is significantly higher — in 2022–2023 alone, there were over 239,000 foreigners in Georgia. Many of them worked illegally.
The changes will have the greatest impact on citizens of:
• Russia — according to various estimates, between 80,000 and 120,000 Russians live in Georgia, a significant proportion of whom work remotely or in the service sector without formal permission;
• Georgia’s neighbors (Armenia, Azerbaijan);
• Ukraine;
• the Middle East;
• South Asia;
• some countries in Europe and Latin America.
For Russians, who have become one of the largest groups of foreigners in Georgia since 2022, the new rules may lead to the need for mass registration of work permits. Otherwise, there is a risk of fines and the inability to continue working.
The reform aims to legalize the labor market and protect the rights of Georgian citizens. It closes a loophole that allows foreigners to work without a visa and creates a new legal framework for tens of thousands of people. This will particularly affect citizens of the Russian Federation and CIS countries, who in recent years have made up the core of the foreign presence in Georgia’s economy.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs
China has taken a new step in the race for leadership in future communications technologies. Scientists from Peking University and City University of Hong Kong have developed the world’s first universal 6G chip, which is capable of delivering data transfer speeds of over 100 Gbps and operating at any frequency in the range from 0.5 to 115 GHz. This was reported by the South China Morning Post and Interesting Engineering, citing a publication in Nature magazine.
The finger-sized device (11×1.7 mm) allows you to download, for example, a 50 GB 8K video in a matter of seconds.
The modem uses a photon-electron architecture, which allows different frequency bands to be combined into a single system.
The development solves a key problem for future 6G networks: spectrum fragmentation. Currently, equipment is created separately for “low,” “medium,” and “millimeter” frequencies, which complicates implementation. The new chip is universal and can be used both in rural areas (for low-frequency coverage) and in megacities (for ultra-fast connections at high frequencies).
Prototypes that transmitted data at a speed of 100 Gbit/s over limited distances were previously demonstrated in Japan, and an experimental 6G network was launched in China in 2024. However, it is the Chinese universal modem that has covered the entire frequency range for the first time, making it unique.
The next step is to integrate the technology into compact USB-format modules and adapt it for smartphones, base stations, and Internet of Things devices. This will bring us closer to the mass adoption of 6G, which experts expect in the 2030s.
China is cementing its leadership in 6G development by offering the world a unique solution that could change the landscape of mobile technology. The breakthrough universal modem opens up opportunities for a digital revolution — from medicine to the entertainment industry.
