Age is not a barrier to work: employers are forced to adjust their priorities
31 March 12:56
In Ukraine, due to the shortage of workers, companies are increasingly offering jobs to men over 60. This was reported by Finance.ua with reference to Ella Libanova, director of the Institute for Demography and Social Studies, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
According to Ella Libanova, today all employers are “chasing” men aged 60 plus because they are not mobilized.
“They (employers – ed.) are well aware that these men who start working for them will not go to the front in a month or two or three, that they will work for a long time, and that at 60, their ability to work is unconditional. For physical work, maybe not, but for mental work it is,” emphasizes the director of the Institute for Demography and Social Studies.
Deputy Minister of Social Policy Daria Marchak also believes that the portrait of a job seeker in Ukraine will change.
According to her, businesses will open new niches, offer new products, and employers will focus on experienced older people.
“These are people who already have life experience behind them, they already understand how to behave in different life situations, they already interact better with society. As a country, we need to learn how to take advantage of age, and not perceive the increase in the average age of citizens as a problem or challenge,” the official said.
What other trends characterize the labor market?
Last year, the average unemployment rate decreased to 14.3%. In 2023, it was 17.4%, in 2022 – 18.5%. These data are provided in the review of the Center for Economic Strategy.
The labor market in 2024 remained uneven: there were many vacancies, but unemployment was still high, indicating the presence of structural unemployment. The lack of labor has become one of the key challenges for businesses.
The shortage of personnel intensified competition between employers, which stimulated the growth of real wages, even compared to the pre-war period. Companies were more active in recruiting women, students, and the elderly for positions previously held primarily by men. In particular, women were increasingly employed as truck drivers, welders, mechanics, and public transport drivers.
However, retraining takes time, and the labor force continues to shrink due to mobilization and people leaving for other countries. Therefore, according to the Center for Economic Strategy, imbalances in the labor market will continue in the coming years.
“The Labor Market Barometer 2024 points to an interesting paradox
Ukrainian companies unanimously report a shortage of staff, but while previously the staff shortage was manifested in the search for specialists in certain professions, including blue-collar jobs, now businesses are facing a shortage of staff for all categories of employees. This is stated in the study of the HR portal GRC.ua “Labor Market Barometer 2024. Forecasts for 2025”.
The portal’s analysts also draw attention to an interesting paradox when employers experience a growing staff shortage, while specialists cannot find a job.
“There are many explanations for this phenomenon. However, both employers and specialists unanimously voiced two main problems: the mismatch between the expectations of specialists’ salaries and the ability of employers to pay, as well as the fact that today the needs of employers for specialists of certain professions and qualifications are not covered by specialists available on the market,” the authors of the study note and state that “many specialists remain unclaimed.”
