The number of IT specialists working in Ukraine in 2023 increased by about 2.7% to 346.2 thousand people, according to the research Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT, prepared by the IT Association.
Executive Director of IT Ukraine Association Maria Shevchuk specified that such statistical data were provided at the request of IT-Association and the Ministry of Digital Transformation by the State Statistics Service.
“At the same time, the same IT specialist can be an individual entrepreneur (FOP), a salaried employee employed in the staff of an IT company, and a specialist working under a gig contract. This duplication is not reflected in the statistics figures,” Shevchuk specified.
According to the research data, the biggest growth was observed among specialists working in IT on gig-contract. Their number in 2023 increased by 3.9 times – up to 23.2 thousand. At the same time, the number of specialists registered as entrepreneurs (FOP) decreased to 265 thousand against 272.8 thousand in 2022.
The study points out that there are no new data on the number of employees employed in the staff of IT companies for 2023, but in 2022 their number reached 58.1 thousand people.
In general, for five years from 2018 to 2023, the growth in the number of IT-specialists in Ukraine amounted to 78.4%, stated in the study Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT.
The number of taxes paid by the IT industry in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion has decreased – according to the data given in the study as of January 1, 2022, $1.018 billion was paid, January 1, 2023 – $996.7 million, January 1, 2024 – $982.6 million.
The number of M&A deals in IT in 2022 decreased from 19 for $146 million to 11 for $161.2 million in 2023.
IT in Ukraine remains an important partner for foreign companies despite the ongoing war, said Stepan Mitish, vice president of EPAM Ukraine, at the presentation of the study.
“When our clients need to do something impossible, they go to Ukraine, against all odds. With all due respect to other countries and nationalities, but Ukrainians are about creativity, about knowledge and technology, result-oriented, indestructible and productive, which the last two years have proven,” Mitish said.
As an example, he cited US-based MedTech, which specializes in healthcare products. According to him, the company, realizing “the uniqueness of Ukrainian talents,” increased the size of its team from 25 to 200 people during the two years of full-scale invasion. Mitish did not specify the name of the company.
