Shrinking Ukrainian workforce forces fresh recruitment ideas
More than 10% of Ukraine's population has fled abroad since Russia's invasion, and more than a million men have been conscripted into the army. That has left a labor shortage, and employers are starting to recruit people not previously part of the job market.
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00:00I can just dive in wherever I need to go.
00:04My legs don't get in the way like they would for other people.
00:06I can just get in where I need to go and do my thing.
00:10This is Victor.
00:12Victor didn't lose his legs to a Russian mine.
00:14He lost his legs to illness after retiring on an army pension.
00:18When Vladimir Putin's troops annexed Crimea in 2014, Victor asked if he was needed.
00:24Back then, the answer was no.
00:27The deal changed in February of 2022 with Russia's full-scale invasion.
00:32They needed him back, but not in uniform, not fighting, but as a civilian contractor
00:36to keep Ukraine's Soviet-era armored vehicles on the move.
00:42I woke up at 4 a.m. on February 24th to make myself a cup of tea.
00:46I went outside because I didn't want to wake my wife, and I saw the sky light up all of
00:49a sudden because of the Russian missiles.
00:51I felt the shockwave.
00:56I called my friend in the military and asked, is this it?
00:59Has it started?
01:00He said yes.
01:01A couple of days later, I called again and asked, do you need me?
01:05They did.
01:06Victor is not the only one Ukraine's job market desperately needs back.
01:11Campaigners estimate nearly 2 million Ukrainians with disabilities are currently out of the
01:15labor market.
01:16They're convinced many of those people would return to work if they could find a job that
01:20meets their needs.
01:22Oleksandr Hladun has studied Ukraine's demography for decades.
01:26The outlook, he says, is bleak.
01:29It's tough.
01:32Things were bad enough before, but the war has exacerbated all our problems.
01:37Our future, our working age population and our children, they've just upped and left.
01:44About a third of our refugees abroad are under the age of 18.
01:50Meanwhile, pensioners have largely stayed behind.
01:53The over 65s made up almost a quarter of Ukraine's population before the war, but
01:58only 6% of those that have gone abroad.
02:02Employers are fast realizing that the times when they could pick and choose between recent
02:06graduates is over.
02:09Employers used to think they could get 25-year-olds with loads of experience.
02:13That's over.
02:14That's just not going to happen anymore.
02:16The government has identified the problem, says Oleksandr Hladun, but still hasn't done
02:20much to address it.
02:23We already have a government demographic action plan.
02:30Part of that involves getting older people, and those with disabilities, back into jobs.
02:38But it still needs a lot of work, laws need to be adjusted, and businesses still need
02:44convincing.
02:45As things stand, there's little support for employers to hire more diverse teams.
02:53Only fines if they don't meet hiring quotas for staff with disabilities.
02:58Fines that many businesses still prefer to pay rather than shake up their hiring practices,
03:02despite the extreme labor shortage.
03:09It only took a few days of being back in the job to feel like I'd never left.
03:13I felt like I'd never retired.
03:17Listening to Viktor can sound like he doesn't feel like retiring a second time round.
03:21But he's adamant he'll only stick around as long as his country needs him and his knowledge.
03:27But with so many young Ukrainians abroad, or fighting at the front lines, it's hard
03:32to see him getting out of here any time soon.