In June 2025, the unemployment rate in Ukraine fell to 12% — the lowest figure since the start of the full-scale war. However, a proxy indicator of poverty — the share of surveyed people forced to save on food — increased to 25.2% in June 2025.
This was reported by the Center for Economic Strategy, citing data from Info Sapiens. Ukraine’s labor market is acutely feeling all the challenges of the full-scale war.
The economic shock caused by the beginning of the Russian invasion led to a decline in both labor demand and supply — businesses stopped hiring, and people stopped applying for jobs.
Subsequently, demand for labor started to recover, but slowly; meanwhile, the number of people seeking new jobs soared by summer 2022 and exceeded average 2021 levels.
However, trends then diverged: the need for labor continuously recovered alongside the economy, while job seekers’ activity steadily decreased — largely due to Ukrainian migration abroad and mobilization into the Defense Forces. Labor market activity remains below pre-war levels.
People have become more active in job searching compared to 2024, but the volume of new resumes submitted fluctuates between 80–90% of the average 2021 level. The number of new vacancies has almost stopped growing and remains at 85–90% of the 2021 level.
Poverty level is rising
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the State Statistics Service has not published unemployment data. The research agency Info Sapiens produces its own estimates. According to them, in June 2025, Ukraine’s unemployment rate dropped to 12% — a new low since the full-scale war began. However, the proxy poverty indicator — the share of respondents forced to save on food — rose to 25.2% in June 2025. In recent years, Ukraine has shown a clear trend toward decreasing unemployment, but poverty levels remain relatively stable.
