The median total monthly income of tractor drivers (excluding bonuses) in Ukraine rose to 31,600 UAH by the end of 2025, which is 12% higher than in 2024, according to Agrohub, citing the results of the annual HR360 Benchmarking survey.
According to the study, the median salary of a tractor operator, including bonus payments, currently stands at 36,300 UAH per month. The overall growth in the payroll fund (PPF) in this segment was 5%, partly due to a labor shortage: the number of employees per 10,000 hectares decreased from 27 to 25.
Harvesting remains the most expensive operational activity in the agricultural sector. In 2025, the average pay for this work increased by 5%—to 383 UAH/hour. In second place in terms of income is spraying, at 320 UAH/hour (+8%); in third place is sowing, where rates rose by 14% to 271 UAH/hour. Rolling remains the least expensive operation—142 UAH/hour (+17%).
Analysts noted that there remains a severe shortage of multi-tasking specialists in the market. Only 0.5% of tractor operators are capable of simultaneously performing seeding, spraying, and harvesting. At the same time, each worker is responsible for an average of 3,700 hectares of cultivated land.
An analysis of compensation models shows the dominance of a combined form (fixed + piece-rate component + bonus), used by 76% of agricultural companies. Within this compensation structure, the fixed component accounts for 36%, the variable component for 53%, and the bonus component for 11%. Purely piece-rate pay remains in 21% of companies, while a fixed rate is found in only 2% of cases.
The age structure of the workforce shows a trend toward a younger workforce: the share of tractor operators under 25 has risen from 6% to 10% over the past three years. At the same time, the category of employees aged 55+ has decreased from 18% to 14%. The majority of employed specialists (52%) are people under the age of 45.
“The market is gradually shifting toward more complex compensation models. It is becoming critically important for companies not only to hire a tractor operator but also to retain them. That is why employers are increasing the fixed portion of income, which is a more effective tool in the competition for labor than simply raising piece-rate rates,” noted Dmytro Lebedev, Head of Agrohub HR360 Benchmarking.
The study also noted limited use of drones for spraying and desiccation—currently, just over 1% of all acreage is treated using UAVs. Meanwhile, agricultural holdings perform 89% of field work with their own equipment, while 11% is outsourced.
The Agrohub HR360 Benchmarking study of tractor operators’ incomes and job functions was conducted from January to October 2025 among 7 holding companies (41 field operations), employing 3,634 specialists.
The international JYSK chain will raise the salaries of its retail chain employees in Ukraine from February 1, 2026: the salary indexation will average 15% and will cover all store employees, according to Yevgen Ivanitsa, country director of JYSK Ukraine.
“This decision is part of JYSK’s systematic approach to supporting the team, maintaining competitive wages, and investing in the people who provide a high level of service to our customers every day. We value everyone’s contribution and continue to work to create a stable and responsible working environment,” he said on LinkedIn.
Currently, there are 112 JYSK stores in 38 cities in Ukraine, as well as the online store jysk.ua, and the retailer’s network employs over 900 people.
According to the YouControl analytical system, the revenue of JYSK Ukraine LLC in January-September 2025 grew by 24% compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 5.3 billion, and net profit grew by 22%, to UAH 959 million.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group, which has over 3,500 stores in 50 countries. JYSK’s revenue in the 2024/2025 financial year was EUR 6.2 billion.
According to Serbian Economist, the average annual salary of full-time employees in the EU in 2024 was €39,800, which is 5.2% higher than in 2023, according to Eurostat.
The highest average salaries were recorded in Luxembourg (€82,969), Denmark (€71,565), and Ireland (€61,051).
The lowest figures were in Bulgaria (€15,387), Greece (€17,954), and Hungary (€18,461).
The full list for EU countries in 2024 is as follows:
Luxembourg — €82,969;
Denmark — €71,565;
Ireland — 61,051;
Belgium — 59,632;
Austria — 58,600;
Germany — 53,791;
Finland — 49,428;
Sweden — 46,525;
France — 43,790;
Slovenia — 35,133;
Spain — 33,700;
Italy — 33,523;
Malta — 33,499;
Lithuania — 29,104;
Cyprus — 27,611;
Estonia — 26,546;
Portugal — 24,818;
Czech Republic — 23,998;
Croatia — 23,446;
Latvia — 22,262;
Poland — 21,246;
Romania — 21,108;
Slovakia — 20,287;
Hungary — 18,461;
Greece — 17,954;
Bulgaria — 15,387.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1760
The average monthly salary of full-time employees in August 2025 decreased by 2.2% compared to July 2025 and amounted to UAH 25,911, the State Statistics Service (SSS) reported on Tuesday.
According to Gosstat, total wage arrears in August this year increased by 3.3% compared to the previous month of 2025 and amounted to UAH 3.517 billion as of September 1, 2025.
According to the statistics agency, in August 2025, the average monthly wage increased in the public administration and defense sector by 3.6% to UAH 53,125, in the arts, sports, and entertainment sector by 2% to UAH 18,504, in construction by 1% to UAH 22,997, in agriculture by 0.8% to UAH 25,127, in water transport enterprises by 0.6% to UAH 24,869, and in real estate operations by 0.3% to UAH 23,062.
At the same time, there was a 10% decrease in salaries in education, down to 14,432 UAH, healthcare – by 6.9%, to UAH 18,672, in financial and insurance activities – by 6.7%, to UAH 52,269, in temporary accommodation and catering – by 3.1%, to UAH 19,001, information and telecommunications – by 3%, to UAH 65,213, in transport, postal and courier services – by 2.8%, to UAH 26,038, in administrative services – by 1.3% to UAH 20,080, wholesale and retail trade – by 0.9%, to UAH 31,134, air transport enterprises – by 0.6%, to UAH 57,582, professional, scientific, and technical activities – by 0.5%, to UAH 33,906, in industry – by 0.4% to UAH 28,951, in other services – by 0.4% to UAH 29,002.
At the beginning of the 2025-2026 marketing year (July-June), the agricultural sector is actively reviewing salaries, with 79% of agricultural companies having already raised staff salaries and another 21% planning to do so by the end of 2025, according to the results of a study by Agrohub.
According to the study, the agronomic service is showing the highest income growth rates among key personnel categories: 81% of companies have raised agronomists’ salaries by 15-25%.
In engineering services, the majority (among 54% of companies) of salary increases were within 20%, among 18% of companies, incomes increased by more than 25%, and among another 18%, incomes remained unchanged.
A similar balance is observed among elevator personnel, where companies’ approaches range from moderate indexation to no change at all. In the land service, indexation of approximately 15% prevails (63% of companies), 27% increased income by 20-25%, and another 18% added more than 25% to salaries.
Among the survey participants who have already reviewed their employees’ income for 2025, 55% of companies have livestock farming in their business structure. The dynamics in this area vary: while in dairy and beef cattle farming, employees’ incomes have increased by 15-20% on average, there have been virtually no changes in pig farming.
In addition, among personnel on a combined form of payment (fixed + piecework), the largest increase in income was among machine operators (mainly by more than 25%), drivers — up to 20%, and colleagues from elevators — up to 15%. Furthermore, an analysis of piecework rates shows that they increased by 10–20% for machine operators and drivers, and by up to 15% for elevator personnel.
At the same time, most survey participants raised salaries starting in April 2025. Among the main reasons, companies cite the alignment of wages with market rates, competition for personnel, inflation expectations, and better-than-expected financial results for the season.
“We see that the labor market in the agricultural sector is proactive. Agronomists remain a key category for business, and companies are willing to invest in their motivation. The preference now is for increasing the salary component: it is more expensive for the employer, but more effective for retaining staff,” said Dmitry Lebedev, head of Agrohub Benchmarking, whose words are quoted in the report.
Agrohub conducted the HR360 Benchmarking study “Changes in the income levels of crop, livestock, and elevator personnel in 2025” in July 2025 among the 14 largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine with a total land bank of about 2 million hectares and a staff of more than 65,000 people.
The average salary in Ukraine reached UAH 19.5 thousand at the beginning of 2024, which is 30% or UAH 4.5 thousand more than at the beginning of 2022, according to a study of job offers by Work.ua.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the labor market has recovered by 93% in terms of the number of vacancies,” the study says.
According to the published data, in January 2024, employers published more than 91 thousand vacancies, which is 6% less than in December 2023, and 7% less than in January 2022, but about 11 times more than in March 2022.
It is noted that, compared to pre-war figures, the number of vacancies has increased the most in Zakarpattia (55%), Ivano-Frankivsk (46%), Khmelnytsky (25%), Lviv (23%), Vinnytsia (20%), Rivne (18%) and Chernivtsi (16%) regions.
Kyiv (30.9 thousand vacancies), Lviv (almost 8.5 thousand), Dnipropetrovs’k (8.45 thousand), Odesa (5 752) and Kharkiv (3 347) regions remain the leading regions in terms of the absolute number of job offers. These regions account for 63% of all vacancies.
In terms of growth by category compared to pre-war figures, the top 5 categories were medicine and pharmaceuticals (+26%, to 6 thousand offers), education and science (+23%, to 4.8 thousand), security and safety (+22%, to 2.3 thousand), law (+13%, to 1.8 thousand), and retail (+9%, to 12 thousand).
At the same time, in 19 categories, there were fewer job offers in January 2024 than in January 2022. IT, computers, and the Internet are the slowest to recover.
Research by Work.ua shows that Ukrainians want to work remotely: in January 2024, there were already 3% more remote work offers (6.2 thousand) than in January 2022.
It is emphasized that there are many more vacancies in the public sector – in non-profit, charitable and public organizations: if in January 2022 there were 100 of them, now their number has exceeded 1100.
In addition, the number of vacancies for veterans has tripled. At the same time, such job offers still account for 7% of the labor market.
Also, since January 2022, the number of vacancies for pensioners has doubled (about 4% of the labor market). For people with disabilities, the number of job offers increased by 22%, and for students – by only 1%.
“Changes in the country’s life have also affected the labor market. Thus, professions that were not previously available on Work.ua have appeared on the site. First of all, these are specialists of the Defense Forces: combat medic, grenade launcher, mortar gunner, drone pilot, etc.”, the study states.
It is emphasized that there is a demand for mental health in society: an increase in vacancies can be seen for psychologists (+136% in January 2024 compared to January 2022) and psychiatrists (+129%).
There is a growing demand for rehabilitation specialists and doctors: massage therapists (+69%), nurses (+67%), cardiologists (+67%), rehabilitation therapists (+58%), surgeons (+56%), nurses (+51%), and dental assistants (+44%).
The forced migration of Ukrainians abroad has spurred demand for teachers of English (+40%), Polish (+69%), German (+93%), French (+200%), and Spanish (+218%).
The full-scale invasion affected the work of employees in the tourism, shipping, and construction sectors, so there were fewer jobs for tourism managers (-62%), crewing managers (-56%), architects (-54%), interior designers (-53%), and 1C analysts (-55%) due to the rejection of Russian software.
The biggest drop in job offers is in the IT sector: Front-end developer (-81%), back-end developer (-75%), tester (-63%), etc.
Work.ua experts said that the rejection of the Russian language has affected the labor market, and in January 2024, the vast majority of vacancies, namely 96%, were in Ukrainian.
