Page 18 - bne OUTLOOK 2022 Ukraine

Unemployment remains high and was pushed up by the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic to a peak of 10.5% in the first quarter of 2021 – its highest level in over a decade – but fell back by the second quarter. Unemployment rates are expected to improve in 2022 but they are not expected to fall back to the circa 7.5% enjoyed in 2019 unless the strong growth predicted by some analysts appears.
The IMF has downgraded estimates of the unemployment rate for Ukraine from 9.7% to 8.6% in 2021 and from 8.7% to 8.4% in 2022.
The government has been working to try and persuade Ukrainians to return home to work, and wages have been rising much faster than in Russia and is starting to close the gap between the two countries, but they still remain significantly below the wages migrant workers can earn in the west and are not nearly high enough to persuade the migrants to return home.
18 UKRAINE OUTLOOK 2022 www.intellinews.com