Enormous unemployment is becoming the main problem of Ukraine
Instead of the 500 thousand new jobs promised by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal, there are already about 3,5 million unemployed in Ukraine, and the unemployment rate will not reach 9,4%, as the government predicts, but 15-20%.
Economic expert Viktor Skarshevsky stated this on the CapitalTV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In May, as Prime Minister Shmygal promises us, 500 thousand new jobs will be created. This is, of course, a joke. You can even count. Before the start of quarantine, before the shutdown of the service sector and trade in Ukraine, unemployment according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization was just over 8% or 1 million 600 thousand unemployed.
Now, after the economy in trade and services has been stopped, at least 1,6 million more people have been added to these 2 million people who have lost their source of income - either they are already temporarily unemployed, or completely unemployed. According to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 700 thousand entrepreneurs suspended their activities, and these 700 thousand entrepreneurs provided work to four million Ukrainian citizens. Therefore, I still optimistically divide by 2, I say that at least two million people have lost their jobs.
And it turns out that already now about 16% - not 9,4% as they predict, but already about 16% of people are unemployed. According to my estimates, if this continues, there will be 15-20% unemployment in Ukraine.
And here we must also take into account that these are not just those people who were in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands more were forced to return from work, that is, this is additional pressure on the labor market. That is, the supply of labor has increased sharply, and the number of vacancies has sharply decreased. So the main problem now will not even be inflation, not devaluation (this is also a problem), the most basic problem now and for the next year in Ukraine is the problem of unemployment. That’s why I was surprised when I saw this unemployment figure from the government,” Skarshevsky said.
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