Bringing Foreign Workers to Ukraine: Svyrydenko Issues a Statement
6 June 10:12
In response to a petition,Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated that bringing foreign workers into Ukraine’s labor market is viewed solely as one of several additional tools for addressing the labor shortage. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine has caused a significant deterioration in the functioning of the labor market, large-scale population displacement, the destruction of business infrastructure, job losses, and a geographical shift in economic activity,” Svyrydenko stated in her response to the petition.
She notes that under these conditions, the state’s primary task is to integrate into the labor market people who are currently in Ukraine or can return from abroad, including through the introduction of systematic support for youth, women, veterans, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, and older adults, who should receive specific tools—ranging from career guidance and retraining to adapted workplaces and inclusive hiring programs.
“The involvement of foreign labor in Ukraine’s labor market is viewed solely as one of the additional tools for addressing the labor shortage,” the prime minister emphasized.
She also added that the government generally supports the proposal outlined in the petition to attract Ukrainian citizens living abroad who are ready to return to help rebuild the country, while the recruitment of such individuals must be conducted in accordance with Ukrainian law.
“At the same time, the government continues to take measures to ensure the development of a competitive, open, and investment-attractive economy, as well as the implementation of a modern and flexible employment policy. In particular, a draft long-term economic development strategy for Ukraine, ‘Economy of the Future,’ is currently under development. This 15-year strategy aims to create conditions for attracting investment, accelerate economic growth, bring Ukraine’s income levels closer to those of Central and Eastern European countries, and facilitate the return of Ukrainians who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine,” the response states.
As reported, on May 19, a petition on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website calling for the development and implementation of a State Strategy for the Protection of the National Labor Market—which prioritizes the employment of Ukrainian citizens and the involvement of the diaspora over foreign migration—garnered the number of votes required for consideration.
In May, the topic of the need to attract labor migrants to the Ukrainian labor market has been widely discussed in Ukraine.
The publication, citing the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, reported that between May 1 and 10, CSCIS experts observed a surge in discussions of this topic on Ukrainian social media. During this period, experts analyzed 21,600 posts published on 13,800 unique platforms, including Facebook, Telegram, X, TikTok, YouTube, as well as news and information websites. They found that anti-migrant discourse evolved from a local news story into a nationwide discussion with a high level of engagement from anonymous sources. The most intense activity occurred on Facebook and Telegram.
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