Features of the functioning of labor market of ukraine in crisis and post-crisis period: national and regional aspects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of state and key trends of the functioning of labor market of Ukraine in crisis and post-crisis period (2014–2022). It has been established that many factors negatively impact on development of modern Ukrainian labor market. These factors are the following: remarkable decrease in number of economically active population as a result of the acceleration of «aging» rate of the nation and intensification of emigration; long-term lockdowns (from 12.03.2020 to 31.05.2020 and from 08.01.2021 to 25.01.2021) and other restrictions (from June 2020 to April 2021) explained by spread of the coronavirus disease covid-19; effect of the state of emergency and martial law (from February 24, 2022 to the present); drop in GDP and corresponding decrease in demand for economic and technical specialists; imperfect territorial structure of the national economy of Ukraine that leads to the serious disparities in the level of employment in different regions of the country; imperfection of Ukrainian legislation on employment and unemployment problems that is not corresponded to current political, economic, social and military challenges; inefficient tax system that does not stimulate self-employment and employment of young people in the country. It was revealed that key features of the functioning of labor market of Ukraine in crisis and post-crisis period (2014–2022) are an increase in unemployed, especially in youth unemployed; strengthening of the processes of labor and business migration to the EU countries, especially Poland, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic; rapid development of types of flexible employment such as outsourcing, outstaffing, leasing, freelance, etc. The regional features of the functioning of labor market of Ukraine have been also investigated and it has been found that Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa regions are characterized by the lowest level of actual unemployment rate. At the same time, Volyn, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Luhansk regions are characterized by the highest level of unemployment rate that is most likely due to the fact that young people usually go to study (or look for work) in more developed regions or even abroad. In order to solve negative phenomena on the modern labor market of Ukraine, the author has proposed the following measures: increase in government expenditure on training students in priority specialties; increase in government expenditure on education, including retraining of managerial and technical personnel; improvement of the national tax system that will stimulate self-employment and provide jobs, first of all, young people aged between 25 and 35; increase in number and quality of social infrastructure facilities.