Before the onset of the full-scale invasion, the State Employment Service served around one million citizens annually, but this number has significantly decreased now. There are several reasons for this.
This was explained by the director of the State Employment Service, Yulia Zhovtyak, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
The first reason, as Zhovtyak clarified, is that a large portion of the working-age population has left the country. Although refugees can register as unemployed, particularly through the "Diia" portal, they are unable to receive benefits.
Another reason is that all military-registered individuals must provide military registration documents when registering with the State Employment Service, in accordance with the principle of "Work or Fight." Prior to the full-scale invasion, the ratio of unemployed men to women was roughly equal, but today, 80% are women and 20% are men.
"Additionally, a possible factor affecting people's willingness to register with the Employment Service is the reduction in unemployment benefit payment periods during the state of martial law. Previously, payments were made for up to one year, and for certain categories of the population (citizens of pre-retirement age) for up to two years, but now it is limited to three months. For those of pre-retirement age, it is one year," Zhovtyak added.
According to her, the freed-up funds have been directed towards:
Recall that RBC-Ukraine reported on why Ukrainians registered with the employment center might lose their unemployed status.