Set among the tall grey apartment blocks and tree-lined streets of Ukraine’s third-largest city Odesa, the office of the Odesa branch of the State Employment Service has a challenging task complicated by the demographic upheavals since the start of the war. 

The loss of control over large parts of eastern Ukraine to Russia, coupled with the departure of men to the frontline and the migration of millions of Ukrainians to other European countries, has had a devastating impact on the economy. Companies have been forced to relocate, and some have pivoted to new activities to respond to the economic damage inflicted by the war.

For Odesa region, the site of Ukraine’s vital Black Sea ports, these effects are magnified as it grapples with disrupted trade, naval blockades, and missile strikes. Given the massive shifts in population, one of the greatest challenges for companies operating under wartime conditions is simply finding people to work for them.

Fighting for survival 

All this leaves small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fighting for survival. Maria Gutsman, team leader for inclusive development, recovery and peacebuilding at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ukraine, spoke in an interview with bne IntelliNews about the devastating impact of the war for Ukraine, “on the economy, on employment” given “how many people left their jobs, left their homes”. 

With SMEs comprising 99% of Ukrainian firms and providing around 70% of the nation’s jobs, they play an irreplaceable role in stability and employment. “The key challenges facing SMEs are that many have had to relocate or re-envisage their businesses. For example, heavy industries were concentrated in the east, but with the war now there, companies are restructuring, finding new supply chains, and pursuing new export opportunities. Everything has changed,” Gutsman told bne IntelliNews, citing UNDP research. 

In Odesa, companies face unique challenges tied to the city’s maritime economy. “Businesses in Odesa are facing the same challenges, but of course the blockade of the port affects them. Odesa was always a port city, and a lot of the businesses were oriented to that. Now businesses have to reimagine what to do next,” Gutsman commented, adding, "And the UNDP will be here to support Odesa.” 

Dramatically changed labour market 

Perhaps the most pressing issue for SMEs is the severe labour shortage caused by mass mobilisation and emigration. “The full-scale invasion has dramatically changed our labour market,” said Mykyta Koreniev, director of the Odesa Oblast State Employment Service (SES).

Mykyta Koreniev, director of the Odesa Oblast State Employment Service (SES), with his colleagues. 

One of the biggest difference is that 80% of the Odesa Oblast SES’s clients are now women. “Men are mobilised and have to serve in the armed forces, and a lot of people left Ukraine because of the war. Now we have severe deficit of skilled workers, mainly in traditionally male professions.” 

This year alone, more than 15,000 vacancies were put up by employers in Odesa Oblast, making the SES’s services more in demand than ever. “Because of the employee deficit even those companies who never cooperated or applied for the services of the State Employment Service now apply,” said Koreniev. 

Asked which sectors have the biggest unmet demand for labour, Koreniev gave a long list, including agriculture, trade, the civil service, transport, manufacturing, medicine, education, accountancy, metalworking, and others. 

The SES’s service is free for both employers and jobseekers, and this year has found positions for over 10,000 people. The Odesa office alone has more than 1,000 clients. As well as serving companies and jobseekers in Odesa, it also has a mobile employment service; a minibus equipped with information on job opportunities and vocational training is parked outside the SES office. It is regularly dispatched to smaller towns and villages without their own employment offices. 

For the Odesa Oblast SES, acting as an intermediator in the labour market, it can be difficult to fit the right people to the right jobs. While many skilled male workers have left to fight Russia’s invading army, jobseekers are overwhelmingly female, many of them mothers with young children. Others include veterans, internally displaced people from the east of the country, and workers close to retirement age. 

The employment service has responded to the need for new skills by setting up vocational training programmes. "We provide more than 140 short-term courses to up-skill in 33 professions," Koreniev said. “This year more than 1500 jobless people were trained. Usually more than 80% of graduates of those courses find a job.” 

Professions covered include construction, beauty, services, bartending, administration, accountancy and various industrial specialisms such as welding. 

The employment service is encouraging women to retrain for high-demand, traditionally male-dominated fields like welding and construction. Yet, these retraining efforts face challenges — not least the demand for childcare, given only around half of Odesa’s kindergartens have bomb shelters and are thus allowed to operate.

Made in Ukraine

Since May 2024, the Odesa Oblast SES office has also been home to Odesa’s Made in Ukraine office. The ninth such office in the country, it was set up by the UNDP and government of Japan in cooperation with the SEC, the Odesa Oblast Employment Centre and the Ministry of Economy. 

The opening of the Odesa Made in Ukraine office in May 2024. Source: Viacheslav Kotliarenko / UNDP in Ukraine. 

The role of the Made in Ukraine platform, announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in February 2024, is to support Ukrainian manufacturers, with the aim of strengthening the national economy.

“In 2023, nearly 300 civilian infrastructure facilities had been damaged by shelling in Odesa. Despite this, the economy of Odesa Oblast is striving to survive and adapt,” said a UNDP press release issued on the Odesa office’s launch. 

“Amid complex logistics related to raw materials and product distribution, as well as power supply limitations due to hostilities, 99,400 small and medium enterprises are continuing to operate in the region, over 5,000 of which started their activities in 2023.” 

Ultimately, there are plans to open similar offices in employment services across the country. “The key objective is to create opportunities for businesses inside the country and for those who relocated to other countries to come back and contribute to Ukraine’s recovery,” said Gutsman. 

Made in Ukraine offices, equipped with consultation spaces, allow entrepreneurs to access government grant information, regional or city programmes to support micro and small entrepreneurs, business registration assistance, tax support and other services. Entrepreneurs can also participate in a cashback scheme for goods made in Ukraine. 

“We launched this office in May and so far more than 500 entrepreneurs have applied here for services,” said Koreniev. Those include companies in sectors from transport to garment manufacturing to agricultural processing. “It’s important that applicants can receive face to face help with all government programmes here in this modern office,” he added. 

Both Gutsman and Koreniev acknowledge that Ukraine’s small businesses face a daunting road ahead, especially when it comes to finding the right people. Yet, through the efforts of agencies like the SEC and UNDP, and the Made in Ukraine programme, there is a growing network of support designed to help them rebuild.