The number of job openings in the second quarter of this year rose by 13% compared to the first quarter, while the number of resumes increased by 75% compared to the same period in 2025, according to the first analytical report from the interactive quarterly analytics tool of the job search platform robota.ua.
According to this data, the Kyiv region had the most job openings in Q2 2026 (136,700, or 40.6% of the total). There is also active demand for workers in Lviv (26,800, or 8%), Dnipropetrovsk (25,800, or 7.6%), Odesa (19,300, or 5.7%), and Kharkiv regions (17,600, or 5.2%).
Since the beginning of the year, the number of job openings has been gradually increasing after a decline in November–December 2025 to 92,400. Specifically, in January 2026 there were 101,200 job openings, in February—105,800, in March—110,500, in April—113,200; in May, the trend slowed, and the market saw nearly as many job openings as the previous month—113,300.
Salary expectations are slightly lower than employers’ offers: in May, the salaries offered by employers amounted to 28,000 UAH, compared to the 25,000 UAH that job seekers were hoping for.
As noted in the platform’s report, the tool’s large-scale sample covers over 337,000 published job openings, 656,000 active job seekers, nearly 1,900 settlements, and over 110 million page views.
In addition to market indicators, the platform’s quarterly report highlights key labor market trends. Salary transparency, in particular, is becoming a key factor: 33% of job seekers do not apply at all to job postings that do not specify a salary, and against the backdrop of the European Pay Transparency Directive, a petition has emerged in Ukraine calling for a mandatory salary field on recruitment platforms.
It is noted that, amid a labor shortage, job reservations in the defense industry have become an important HR benefit offered by 74% of companies (according to a study by the Council of Arms Manufacturers and Core Team). Additionally, according to a study by the Ukrainian Center for Social Reforms, employers are more actively recruiting older candidates: about 65% of companies are willing to consider employees aged 50+, and over 60% are willing to consider employees aged 60+.
The Central Mining and Processing Plant (CMMC, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), part of the Metinvest Group, continues to fulfill its environmental obligations. From January through June of this year, it allocated 23.8 million UAH to environmental initiatives and an additional 12.9 million UAH to air quality protection measures.
According to the company, these figures were announced following the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the first half of 2026.
It is noted that despite the challenges of wartime, the company continues to fulfill its commitments regarding wages, safety, training, social protection, and youth development. In the first half of the year, the average salary for the company’s employees was 27,957 thousand UAH, representing a 10.2% increase compared to the same period in 2025.
Over 28 million UAH was allocated to occupational safety measures during the first half of the year.
TsGZK is one of the five largest producers of ore raw materials in Ukraine. It specializes in the extraction and production of iron ore raw materials—concentrate and pellets.
TsGZK is part of the Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are PJSC “System Capital Management” (SCM, Donetsk) (71.24%) and the “Smart-Holding” group of companies (23.76%). The management company of the Metinvest Group is Metinvest Holding LLC.
More than 80% of Ukrainian agricultural companies raised employee salaries by 10–20% in the first half of 2026; however, the labor shortage remains one of the industry’s key challenges, and recruiting has become more difficult than last year, according to a study by the analytical firm Agrohub.
According to the study, 81% of the companies surveyed have already adjusted their pay scales. Salaries rose most sharply for agronomists, engineers, tractor operators, and drivers—precisely the categories of workers where the labor shortage is most acute. To retain drivers, piecework rates and variable pay components were increased more often than fixed salaries.
The greatest labor shortages in the first half of the year were observed among tractor operators, drivers, engineers, and grain elevator workers. All survey participants cited mobilization as the main factor complicating the search for personnel; 69% cited a shortage of qualified specialists, and 56% cited rising salary expectations among candidates. Other reasons included population migration and competition among employers.
In response to the labor shortage, agricultural holdings are increasingly recruiting workers from other regions of Ukraine, as well as people aged 50 and older and women for positions that were traditionally considered male-dominated. In addition, companies are investing in in-house staff training and the automation of production processes to reduce their reliance on hard-to-fill positions.
“Companies have met their targets for the first half of the year and increased employee compensation; however, filling a vacancy today often costs more than retaining a current specialist. At the same time, we see that financial incentives are proving insufficient as the sole tool—the endless ‘salary race’ cannot overcome the physical shortage of workers in the market,” commented Dmytro Lebedev, head of the HR360 division at Agrohub.
According to him, in the second half of the year, companies will shift their focus from large-scale salary increases to automation, the development of internal training, expanding recruitment channels, and revising work organization models.
Agrohub’s study was conducted in June 2026 among 16 agricultural holdings with a combined land bank of 2.2 million hectares, operating in crop production, livestock farming, and the grain storage business.
agricultural company, agricultural sector, employee, SALARY, workforce
Ukraine ranks last among European countries in terms of the affordability of purchasing GTA VI, according to a visualization by Maven Mapping, which compares the number of working hours required to buy the game based on the average hourly wage.
According to the study, the average Ukrainian worker would need about 31.12 hours to buy the new Grand Theft Auto game. That’s nearly four full workdays based on a standard eight-hour workday.
By comparison, in Northern and Western European countries, purchasing GTA VI is equivalent to just a few hours of work. In Denmark, it takes about 1.7 hours; in Norway, 1.77 hours; in the Netherlands, 2.2 hours; in Germany, 2.32 hours; and in France, 2.67 hours.
In Central and Southeastern Europe, the figure is significantly higher. In Croatia, it takes about 4.94 hours to buy the game; in Serbia, 16.95 hours; in Romania, 17.64 hours; in Montenegro—17.92 hours, in Bulgaria—18.77 hours, in Turkey—23.52 hours, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina—23.89 hours.
Ukraine, with a figure of 31.12 hours, ranks at the very bottom of the list. This reflects not so much the price of a specific game as the gap in purchasing power between the Ukrainian market and the wealthier countries of Europe. While for a worker in Denmark or Germany such a purchase is comparable to a few hours of work, for a Ukrainian it represents an expense equivalent to nearly half a workweek.
Such rankings are not official economic statistics, as they depend on the selected game price, the method used to calculate wages, and exchange rates. However, they clearly illustrate how global prices for digital goods are perceived in countries with different income levels.
Source: Maven Mapping – https://www.threads.com/@maven.mapping/post/DaACB90iNhn/number-of-hours-needed-to-buy-gta-vi/
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.
