Internally displaced individuals in Ukraine face higher unemployment rates. What solutions does the Employment Service provide?
This is mentioned on the websites of IOM and the State Employment Service.
In the IOM report, published on the eve of 1000 days of the large-scale war, it is noted that among the internally displaced persons (IDPs), there is a higher unemployment rate: 15% compared to the national average of 11%.
Moreover, the percentage of unemployed IDPs actively seeking work (61%) is higher compared to those who returned after displacement or did not move (50% and 44%, respectively).
What does the Employment Service offer to IDPs?
The Employment Service reported that since the beginning of the year, about 100,000 IDPs have utilized their services.
They assure that they provide services that will help not only in finding better jobs but also in acquiring new professions, starting their own businesses, and receiving support at all stages of adaptation in a new place.
The Employment Service has listed the top 5 services for IDPs:
- Job search assistance. The Employment Service promises that specialists will individually match job vacancies based on the client's experience, education, and preferences. This includes not only their own database of vacancies. It is enough to contact the nearest employment center or register as unemployed through “Diia” or on the Service's website.
- Vocational training. Officially registered unemployed individuals can undergo training for free in vocational and technical education centers. They offer 97 trades and about 400 educational programs.
- Voucher for education. IDPs without unemployed status, who already have vocational or higher education, can receive a voucher for education worth 30,000 hryvnias. This money can be spent on advanced training courses or for acquiring a new profession. The program offers one of 155 professions and specialties.
- Grant for starting a business. The Employment Service offers grants to IDPs for creating or expanding their businesses. Grant amounts range from 50,000 to 250,000 hryvnias. IDPs who are participants in combat actions or their spouses can apply for grants up to 1 million hryvnias.
- Compensation to employers for hiring IDPs. The Employment Service also provides financial support for three months to employers who hire IDPs. Currently, this amounts to 8,000 hryvnias. If it concerns the employment of a displaced person with a disability, the compensation will last for six months.
Lack of opportunities and low wages are the main problems for job seekers
The head of the IOM mission in Ukraine, Alessia Schiavon, emphasized that the full-scale invasion has deepened the inequalities that existed in the Ukrainian labor market.
The IOM noted that the employment rate among respondents (not only among IDPs) is 67%, which is six percentage points lower than before February 2022, despite the massive reduction of the workforce in the country due to the forced migration of more than 6.7 million people abroad.
The most serious problems faced by job seekers in Ukraine are the lack of employment opportunities and low wages, as highlighted by the international organization.
Additionally, women, who often work in the public sector, such as in education and healthcare, experience disproportionately low wages and suffer from delays in their payments, which are common in these institutions.
Methodology
The data presented in the IOM report were collected through a survey conducted in August 2024. A total of 40,000 randomly selected respondents were surveyed using telephone interviews.
Further interviews included 1,488 IDPs, 1,188 returning displaced persons, and 1,800 local residents who did not leave. The overall sampling error is 0.49%.
The survey was conducted across the entire territory of Ukraine, excluding Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions.