The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Employment Strategy until 2030, developed by the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine. The document establishes the foundations of a new state labour market policy aimed at economic recovery, long-term resilience and growth, as well as preparation for Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union.
The adoption of the Strategy responds to critical demographic and economic challenges, including:
- a sharp decline in population and labour market imbalances;
- high levels of unemployment alongside a significant share of informal employment;
- a considerable labour shortage.
“The development of the labor market is one of the key factors in Ukraine’s economic recovery. The Employment Strategy until 2030 creates conditions under which people will be able to work, improve their qualifications, and learn new professions in Ukraine, while businesses will be able to find the necessary personnel. This is an important step towards a modern, sustainable economy and bringing Ukraine closer to European Union standards,” stated Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine Oleksii Sobolev.
The Employment Strategy sets out target indicators for 2030, including an increase in employment to 2 million people and a reduction of unemployment to 9.9%.
To reach these targets, the Strategy defines six key policy objectives, including:
- Ensuring timely matching of employers’ demand for labour and digital transformation of the labour market.
- Aligning education and vocational training outcomes with current and forecasted labour market needs.
- Ensuring socio-economic inclusion and removing barriers to employment.
- Stimulating formal employment and ensuring decent remuneration.
- Strengthening institutional capacity of the labour market.
- Harmonising employment and occupational safety systems with the EU acquis to facilitate Ukraine’s integration into the EU labour market.
“We aim to ensure that more people work formally and receive fair and competitive wages, while businesses do not spend months searching for employees. The Strategy provides for digital labour market services, training and reskilling programmes tailored to employers’ needs, and support for the employment of veterans, internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities, and people aged 45+. This creates the basis for consistent changes necessary for economic recovery and for Ukraine’s integration into the European labour market,” noted Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine Dariia Marchak.
The practical implementation of the Strategy will be carried out through an Operational Action Plan for 2026–2028, which will define the key steps for phasing in initiatives and scaling reforms within the labour market. The Plan envisages a combination of digital tools, training and reskilling instruments, inclusion measures and formalisation of employment. The Operational Plan will be further updated and detailed in line with the implementation progress of the Strategy, new data, labour market needs and available resources.
The adoption of the Strategy is part of Ukraine’s commitments under the Ukraine Facility and will serve as a roadmap for the further alignment of Ukraine’s legislation with EU standards in the field of labour and employment.
The implementation of the Employment Strategy will become one of the key instruments for strengthening economic recovery, human capital development and state resilience by 2030.
The full text of the Employment Strategy and the Operational Action Plan is available at the link (in Ukrainian).
The Employment Strategy of Ukraine project is being developed by the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine with support from the German Government through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), under the project “REYOIN – Promoting socio-economic integration of returnees, internally displaced persons, and the population of host communities in Ukraine.”