LABOUR MIGRATION FROM UKRAINE UNDER THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC TURBULENCE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse the trends of labour migration from Ukraine under the global economic crisis caused by COVID-19. The subject of the research is international labour migration in Ukraine. The study should predict the consequences of the coronavirus crisis for labour migration and place of Ukraine in the world labour market in the nearest future. Methodological basis of the research comprised the list of theoretical and empirical methods of research; there was provided the analysis of recent research publications subject under the discussion, compared the results obtaining with statistical data, suggested the practical recommendations that were received on the base of survey results. Researches in a number of OECD countries have found that the risk of infection among migrants is at least two times higher as among locals. The number of international migrants is declined in 2020 for the first time in recent history, as the number of new migrants slows down and re-emigration rates substantially increased. Ukraine has the highest rates of permanent immigrants among European countries. In 2019, there was among approximately 5 million people of foreign origin in Ukraine, the largest migration groups were from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, and Uzbekistan. At the same time, Ukraine ranked 8th in the world and 2nd in Europe for emigration in 2019. Ukraine was the largest country of origin of refugees in Europe amounted to 93 thousand people at the end of 2018. In 2019, as in previous decades, the largest migration corridors in Europe were in Ukraine, including the Russia-Ukraine and Ukraine-Russia corridors, which held the first positions in the volume of migration in this part of the world. The military conflict in the East of Ukraine has strengthened the current trend towards reorienting of Ukrainian migration to the West. The employment structure of Ukrainian labour migrants is mostly inefficient, as only 26.8% of Ukrainian workers are employed abroad according to the qualifications obtained. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually all spheres of public life; it has affected emigration from Ukraine, a crucial factor of which has been the introduction of lockdown in key host countries of Ukrainian labour migration, in particular, in the EU. However, the existence of an unconditional demand for Ukrainian workers in the labour-importer countries has led to the solution of problems with access of workers in an ad hoc manner in the first half of 2020, in particular, through the organization of workers transportation from Ukraine for seasonal work. The results of the study have shown that despite the fact that the structure of permanent migration from Ukraine is dominated by migration to the Russian Federation, trends in long-term and especially in temporary labour migration since 2014 and until now, clearly indicate a change in the vector of labour movement towards the EU. Labour emigration is not able to solve the problem of Ukraine’s economic development; it just solves the task of maintaining the welfare of the migrant families and provides the opportunities to develop the human capital of migrant children, primarily through funding by means of migration capital their education in Ukraine. Analysis of the current global and national economic situation, regulatory measures, both in Ukraine and in the countries of migration destination, which directly or indirectly affect migration flows, indicates that in the medium term we cannot predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly affect large-scale labour migration.