Labor market continues to demonstrate positive growth dynamics: the number of vacancies in March increased by 14% compared to February and reached almost 75.6 thousand.
These are the main results of the regular labor market survey presented by Work.ua on Thursday.
“The number of vacancies in the category of hotel and restaurant business and tourism has increased rapidly. Jobs and candidates are returning to frontline areas,” the study said.
According to it, the number of vacancies relative to the 2022 prewar level is almost 75%, when compared to the 2021 figure of 91%.
It is noted that the top five countries by number of vacancies are the Kiev region – nearly 22.8 thousand (+14% compared to February), Lviv region – 7.52 thousand (+9%), Dnipropetrovsk region – 7.2 thousand (+12%), Odessa region – 5.46 thousand (+22%) and Ivano-Frankivsk region – 2.43 thousand (+21%).
It is indicated that with the advent of spring a record for the growth of job offers, according to the system of recruitment management (HMS) from Work.ua, was the category “hotel, restaurant business and tourism” – 7.22 thousand vacancies, which is 29% more than a month earlier. The most popular position in this category is a bartender: 1.37 thousand job offers, which is 40% more than in February. And the greatest trend was for barbecue cook vacancies with 95 offers, up 94% from February’s numbers.
In contrast to job openings, which are increasing each month, job seeker competition continues to decline, down 13% from February, with fewer than one person per day responding on average now, down from close to 3.5 in March-April 2022.
“The March 2023 competition is four times lower than it was at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in March 2022,” the materials said.
The highest competition is in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vinnitsa, Odessa and Volyn oblasts. The lowest – in Zakarpattya, Chernivtsi, Kherson, Ternopil and Kirovograd regions.
“With regard to positions with high competition of applicants, which usually falls into the position of digital specialists with the ability to work remotely and the administrators of beauty salons, if you compare with March 2022, the number of those wishing to work as an administrator beauty salon in 2023 decreased by 10 times, and, for example, wishing to work Front-end programmer and Java programmer – increased by three or four times,” – says the study.
This may be a consequence of the optimization taking place in the IT-sphere.
At the same time, according to Work.ua, in general, the influx of applicants to the market is still growing: in March there were 7% more candidates than in February. Among them are sales consultants, sales managers, administrators, drivers, office managers, accountants, bartenders, waiters, customer service managers and cashiers.
The top three positions with the largest increase in applicants were Dietitian – +327% (64 candidates), Excavatorist – +115% (58), and .Net Programmer – +102% (105).
The largest increase of new candidates in March compared with February was observed in the frontline regions: Sumy region -22% (848 applicants), Mykolayiv region – 15% (859), Donetsk region – 14% (146), as well as Odesa region – 16% (more than 4 thousand applicants) and Kyiv region – 10% (17.6 thousand).
Speaking about the salaries, Work.ua experts noted a slight increase of 500 UAH in the Odessa and Lviv regions – respectively up to 15.5 thousand UAH and 16 thousand UAH.
In general, in the first month of spring the average salary in Ukraine amounted to 16 thousand UAH.
According to the resource, by sectors the salaries in insurance increased most of all – by 9%, medicine and pharmaceuticals – by 4%, business, hospitality and tourism business, security and safety – by 3%.
The top most paid jobs in non-managerial positions was headed by media buyer – 52.5 thousand UAH, international driver – 40 thousand UAH, business analyst – 32.5 thousand UAH and rebuilder, rickshaw puller and realtor – 30 thousand UAH.
As before, the lowest salaries are offered to cleaners – 8 thousand UAH, dishwashers – 9 thousand UAH and nurses – 9 thousand UAH, which in March increased by 500 UAH against February.
It is reported that most of all candidates with more than five years of experience enter the labor market – nearly 83 thousand (+7% vs. February). The second largest category is without experience, almost 80 thousand candidates (+7%). The third group has two to five years of experience: 40,200 people (+5%). More women than men enter the labor market – 56% against 44%.
In 2022, Vodafone Ukraine reduced its net income by 2% to UAH 19.8 billion, having received a net profit of UAH 1.1 billion, the press service of the mobile operator reported on Friday.
According to a press release, OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) of Vodafone Ukraine in 2022 grew by 3% and amounted to UAH 11.3 billion, OIBDA margin rose by 2.5 p.p. to 56.9%.
“The company’s revenue in 2022 was UAH 19.8 billion. A decrease of 2% compared to the previous year is due to a decrease in the number of mobile network users. Vodafone’s net profit in 2022 was UAH 1.1 billion. The decrease in the indicator… is due to losses from exchange rate differences received as a result of the growth of the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the hryvnia by 34%,” the company said.
Most Vodafone Ukraine mobile users lived in the east and south of Ukraine. In connection with the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and the hostilities that disabled a number of mobile communication networks in the temporarily occupied territories and directly in the war zone, Vodafone lost the most subscribers of all Ukrainian operators – 3.5 million users, the company said in the report.
As of the end of 2022, Vodafone had 15.4 million customers.
Currently over 2.2 million users remain abroad and continue using Vodafone services.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has been supporting Ukrainians who seek protection in European countries and provides the free connection to the Affordable Roaming service in most tariffs. The service provides 10GB of mobile Internet and 100 minutes for calls with subscribers in Ukraine and the country of residence, subject to paid Ukrainian package,” the company said, specifying that the Affordable Roaming offer is used by 87% of all customers staying in the roaming zone.
Data services are used by 71% of all Vodafone customers, while the mobile Internet usage has grown by 1.5 times, the company said.
Despite the impact of the war on the company’s revenues in 2022, Vodafone Ukraine maintained business stability, not reducing but increasing the volume of investments in developing and supporting the country’s telecom infrastructure. At the same time, it was possible to enhance business efficiency and the penetration of digital services, the company said in the press release.
Vodafone increased capital investments to UAH 3.6 billion in 2022.
“Thanks to this, Vodafone engineers restored the destroyed infrastructure, quickly repaired equipment, developed the network, and ensured the availability of communications in blackout conditions. During the year, the company’s engineers returned to the air about 800 villages and cities, carrying out about 2,960 repair trips, including in close proximity to the front line,” the company said.
Vodafone did not stop the development of the network. In 2022, the company’s specialists paid special attention to expanding capacity and coverage in regions of mass migration. In general, since the beginning of the war, 4,000 4G base stations have been launched.
Significant resources of the company were sent to ensure the availability of communications in the conditions of power outages due to targeted attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure facilities. Vodafone purchased 414 mobile generators, and the company’s engineers replaced 24,712 batteries. To ensure the operation of alternative power sources, 519 tonnes of diesel fuel were used.
The company said that today 88% of the network is operating well.
National Bank of Ukraine governor Andriy Pyshnyy and his deputy Serhiy Mykolaychuk have left on a working visit to Washington as part of an official delegation of Ukraine, the NBU said in a Facebook post.
“The purpose of the visit is to participate in the Annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, holding bilateral meetings with international partners,” the information
It is indicated that the head of the NBU will discuss the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum with the IMF, the consequences of Russian military aggression and the issues of strengthening sanctions pressure on Russia, as well as the necessary steps to strengthen the stability of Ukraine and the rapid post-war economic recovery.
During the visit, a number of meetings with the leadership of the IMF, World Bank, EBRD, U.S. Treasury, European Central Bank, heads of European central banks are planned, the NBU said.
As earlier reported, this year, the IMF and WB spring meetings will be held from April 10 to 16. April 12 will be the third meeting of the Ministerial Round Table on Support for Ukraine with the participation of IMF and WB leaders Kristalina Georgieva and David Malpass and Prime Minister Denis Shmygal.
In addition, the delegation of Ukraine traditionally includes the Minister of Finance – Sergei Marchenko, whom the Board of Governors of the WB and the IMF at the autumn meeting in October 2022 elected chairman for 2023.
Plantations of grapes in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 23.3% to 26.6 thousand hectares, some enterprises were plundered, destroyed or mothballed, said the head of the public association “Ukrsadvinprom” Volodymyr Pechko at a press conference in the agency “Interfax Ukraine” on Thursday.
“In 2021 in Ukraine there were about 266 industrial producers of grapes and wine, 125 viticultural enterprises, 29 small producers of grapes and viticultural products. They worked on 34.7 thousand hectares … According to 2022, the area of vineyards decreased to 26.6 thousand hectares,” he said.
Pechko specified that 33 employees were permanently involved in processing of each hectare, each enterprise employed 250 people on average.
According to him the gross yield of grapes last year was 244 thousand tons with the yield capacity of 92 cwt/hectare.
According to the head of Ukrsadvinprom, the situation is also complicated by a significant deterioration of the trade balance of wine products, which occurred before the war. In 2021, Ukraine exported $16.4 million worth of wine products, and imported $215.4 million.
“If you compare the pre-war figures with imports in 2016, when it was $85.3 million in cash equivalent,” Pechko expressed regret.
At the same time, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Markiyan Dmitrasevich noted that the state, having opened the land market, gave an impetus to the development of viticulture as an industry.
“When you become an owner of land, you get the opportunity to invest thousands of hryvnias in vineyards. This is a long-term investment that will work for many years,” he said.
According to him, despite the reorientation of the state budget for military needs, salaries and social payments, it remains possible to get funding for the establishment of vineyards and orchards this year.
“As we can see from the trade balance, Ukraine has a significant imbalance towards imports. The market is huge. I urge all enthusiasts who want to plant vineyards to do so. We should get used to domestic wine. It does not only bring profit to the industry, but also employs a huge number of people, “- said Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy.
According to the moderator of the press conference and the deputy head of the public association “Ukrsadvinprom” Maxim Urakin, in the current realities it is extremely important to apply the status of winemaking to all regions of Ukraine.
“Granting the status of winemaking regions to all regions of Ukraine without exception is especially relevant in connection with the displacement of viticulture in the central and western regions of the country, where dozens of winemakers are already working effectively; the status of winemaking region will allow winemakers to claim assistance, technology, benefits,” – said Urakin.
Full video of the press conference is available here:
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are waiting for the settlement of problems that have arisen after the adoption of the law on the protection of intellectual property rights during martial law in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation at the beginning of the war.
This was reported to Interfax-Ukraine by representatives of pharmaceutical companies producing generic drugs.
According to the director of corporate, legal relations and compliance of pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” Serguey Bobylev, in practice, the adoption of the law, which sought to prevent the loss of intellectual property rights by their owners during martial law, due to the fact that the first months of war, many rights holders, patent attorneys, lawyers and specialists for various reasons were not able to make in time to comply with the legislation of Ukraine to maintain these rights, “created a number of problems Ukrainian pharma
“The inaccurate wording of the law allowed certain companies to argue that intellectual property rights that expired during martial law continued in force. This has created the basis for litigation, in which the owners of such patents are trying to artificially extend their validity, thus creating a monopoly of certain medicines and therefore preventing the market entry of analogues that are of the same quality and effectiveness, but cost much less,” he said.
Bobylev noted that it takes an average of three years for a generic drug to enter the market, but “with the current wording of the law, it is impossible to invest in the development and entry into the market, because it is impossible to determine the end date of such artificially extended patents.
“As far as I know, about half a dozen of relevant disputes against competitors of patent owners are in Ukrainian courts. These lawsuits have actually stopped the release of several drugs. In addition, the very fact of going to court to protect patents that have finally expired and the uncertainty created by this stops many domestic and foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers from entering the Ukrainian market,” he said.
Bobylev noted that the biggest loser in this situation is the consumer, who is forced to use more expensive medicines without access to alternatives in the form of high-quality and cheaper generics in conditions of war and lower incomes.
“We need immediate clarification of one wording of the law in order for it to implement its real purpose, as reflected by the authors in the explanatory note to the bill, but without creating artificial grounds for the extension of patents. According to the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation, the appropriate changes have already been worked out and submitted to the parliament. We are waiting for the registration of the bill and its speedy adoption,” he said.
In turn, the director of government relations “Teva Ukraine” Marina Buchma, said that the extension of the patent during martial law is a non-standard situation: patent law provides protection for an invention for 20 years. Patents for medicines can be additionally extended for up to five years, i.e., the maximum duration of a patent cannot exceed 25 years.
“The situation seems to be exceptional and contrary to the interests of patients. After all, during martial law we need more stable access to drugs than ever before,” she said.
According to Buchma, after the law went into effect, it turned out that patents on some drugs were to expire in 2022 and that would have made it possible for generic drugs to appear on the market, these two drugs are caspofungin and etoricoxib.
“That said, it remains debatable whether extensions apply to patents that have expired the maximum term defined by patent law. Generic drugs were applied for registration in 2021 with the expectation that they could be marketed in 2022. Thus, some generic drugs are still not available to patients and the healthcare system,” she said.
Buchma noted that along with legislative mechanisms to resolve the problem that has arisen, “the pharmaceutical companies whose patents are extended by this law may take a voluntary decision to allow generic drugs to enter the market of Ukraine”.
As the agency was told by the company, at the moment Teva-Ukraine cannot bring to market the drugs caspofungin and etoricoxib due to the unjustified prolongation of patents during the martial law.
For his part, Pharmak’s legal support director Dmytro Taranchuk believes that the extension until the end of martial law of intellectual property rights has “no justification of procedural or procedural expediency, and is therefore discriminatory against market participants in Ukraine, both local and foreign.
“Adoption of the norm in the law on the extension of property rights for the period of martial law has led to an unprecedented monopoly, including in the market of medicines of Ukraine. There are cases when both basic and additional protection of rights to an invention has expired, but patent protection continues to be in force and gives the right to prohibit the use of his invention to the right holder. This is a dangerous precedent, including for the international system of protection of intellectual property rights,” he said.
Taranchuk noted that currently “monopolists retain the possibility of maintaining unreasonably high prices in the absence of competition.
“The norm of the law has a negative impact on the entire generic market of medicines in Ukraine and prevents the timely entry of generics into the market after the completion of patent protection. There are already precedents in Ukraine, when rightholders, using the norm of this law, through judicial institutions prohibit the sale of generic drugs, for example, containing molecules etoricoxib and caspofungin” – he said.
Taranchuk believes that “the authors of the bill were guided by motives to protect the interests of certain entities in the field of IP, rather than motives to protect the rights of entities in the field of IP.”
“The only effective way to solve this problem is to immediately repeal the provision of the law on the extension of property rights to protect fair competition in the markets, including medicines, and to protect the rights of consumers and patients to quality and affordable medicines in fair competition in the markets,” said the lawyer.
The total supply of chilled and frozen pig meat in March 2023 from the EU was almost 67% lower than last year, falling to 503 tonnes, the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders has reported.
In monetary terms, Ukraine imported $949,000 worth of pork in March, the data of the State Customs Service was cited by the industry association.
According to its analysts, this is the lowest monthly figure since 2018.
“During March, the average price of pork by slaughter weight in the EU was about $2.54/kg. The price of pork imported to Ukraine fell to $1.88/kg, which is 5.7% lower than in February this year,” the association said, explaining the decline in import activity by higher prices in EU countries compared to prices for domestic products.
“Even the absence of import duties has not made European pork more price-competitive compared to domestic pork. As long as this status quo persists, external supplies of pig meat will remain inactive,” the industry association predicted.
In general, in the first quarter of 2023, pork imports amounted to 3,160 tonnes, which is more than 75% less than in the first quarter of 2022, the analysts said.
