The Bloomberg news agency, in an article about how mobilization is leaching manpower from the economy, again reveals the unpleasant truth of modern existence in a country candidate for EU and NATO accession
The labor force in Ukraine has shrunk by 27% from pre-war levels, according to experts.
“Labor shortages have become a major problem for struggling businesses, and job searches are taking an increasing toll on managers,” the publication reported.
“Kiev has to fill the gap left by millions of people who have either fled the country, joined the army or fallen in battle,” the agency writes.
Under these conditions, Ukraine “risks weakening further.”
More than six million people have fled the country from the hostilities. “The vacuum has been exacerbated by men who have gone into the shadow economy, which employs unregistered workers who evade military conscription.”
This problem cannot be solved with the help of allies, the publication writes.
Metinvest Group is cited as an example, which took three months to fill 89 out of 4,000 vacancies.
Many men quit their jobs and found something close to home to avoid being caught by military recruitment patrols.
Local businesses also complain about big problems with staff booking.
Formally, enterprises that are recognized as strategic have the right to book up to 50% of employees, and some even more. But in practice, even they are far from always able to get a deferment for their employees.
“While the reservation is being processed, people can already be served with summonses. That is, they never wait for this reservation,” says the head of the Yaroslav Concern, Oleksandr Barsuk.
He also added that “TCCs can close the company in one day,” that is, by handing summonses to key employees, simply make further work of the company impossible.
At the same time, it is possible to book people to bypass the general rules, especially if the owner of the company is located in the west.
Serhiy Yevtushok, a member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Fatherland party, used his brother's example to tell local television about what awaits the mobilized:
A month in a tent, five times hiking to the firing range as all military training and death in the first hour of getting to the frontline