45% of Ukrainian women do not mind working in areas previously dominated by men – and they will be helped to do so
4 November 2024 15:08
The USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine program is allocating $1.8 million to launch a new initiative that should help improve the skills and retraining of specialists in accordance with market needs. This was announced by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
This project will help not only women to acquire skills in professions where men statistically dominated, but will also support young people, veterans, people with disabilities, and internally displaced persons in their intentions to realize their potential in the labor market. This initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Economy.
“The shortage of personnel is one of the main problems for business today. The government is addressing this issue through training and retraining programs. The new USAID program will help to improve the labor market situation in key sectors such as construction and logistics,” said Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
The initiative consists of 8 components, each with a budget of $230,000, and will run from November 2024 to June 30, 2025. Companies and organizations can join one or more components of the initiative.
What areas are supported by the new USAID initiative
Component 1: Building a Resilient HR Community to Support the Development of Ukrainian Business and the Labor Market.
Component 2: Upskilling and retraining of specialists in economic sectors with a focus on their employment.
Component 3: Increasing the involvement of the private sector in the process of professional development and retraining of specialists by improving corporate social responsibility practices.
Component 4: Expanding professional opportunities and employment of veterans, IDPs, people with disabilities, women and youth through social enterprises and socially responsible business.
Component 5: Supporting construction and logistics companies to increase employment of women, youth, people with disabilities, veterans and IDPs.
Component 6: Comprehensive support and reintegration of veterans, IDPs, people with disabilities, women and youth into the labor market.
Component 7: Partnership between vocational education and training institutions and the private sector for professional development and retraining.
Component 8: Sectoral partnership initiative for the employment of students and young professionals.
For more information on the initiative and to apply, please follow the link: https://bit.ly/3C62uIT. The deadline for submitting proposals is 18:00 Kyiv time, November 29, 2024.
Are Ukrainians ready to change their profession?
The Gradus Research study gives an affirmative answer to this question. According to a survey conducted in September of this year, 88% of Ukrainians are ready to change their profession, with 45% of women considering working in areas previously statistically dominated by men.
Overall, Ukraine has a high level of employment despite the constant challenges of wartime – 79% of respondents are currently employed and work full or part-time. Of these, 58% work more than 30 hours a week.
Three quarters of Ukrainians (73%) have changed their occupation. The majority of gender and age groups have experience of changing their profession. Among those aged 45 and older, as many as 79% of respondents have changed their occupation. While young people (58%) and residents of the eastern part of Ukraine (68%) have changed jobs the least often.
As for the experience of additional training to improve their skills and/or learn a new profession, one third of respondents (31%) take it once a year or more often. Women and the younger age group are generally more likely to take additional training courses.
The possibility of obtaining a new specialty, which is traditionally considered to be a male occupation, is considered by 45% of women. Interestingly, young people and residents of the Western and Northern regions and Kyiv are more inclined to do so.
As for the willingness to work after reaching retirement age, 73% of respondents express this desire. Most of them plan to stay in the profession.
The study was conducted by Gradus Research in cooperation with Deloitte Ukraine using a self-completion questionnaire in the Gradus mobile application. The sample reflects the population structure of cities with more than 50 thousand inhabitants aged 18-60 by gender, age, settlement size, and region, excluding temporarily occupied territories and territories of active hostilities. Period of the field: september 18, 2024. Sample size: 1000 respondents.
