The country is facing labor shortages due to the outflow of refugees
Most of the Ukrainians living in the West are unlikely to return, MP Nina Yuzhanina has warned. The lawmaker was commenting on how Kiev plans to address labor shortages caused by mass migration after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
In an interview with online news channel Novini Live on Wednesday, Yuzhanina, a member of the parliamentary financial committee, claimed that at least half of the Ukrainians living in the West would not return due to “chaos within state institutions,” security concerns, and uncertainty surrounding Western military support.
“Those individuals have learned to be self-sufficient in European nations, without assistance from Ukraine,” she stated. “Most have made the decision to stay — perhaps not 70%, but around 50%.”
Ukrainian Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov claimed in February that only 30% of Ukrainians who left are seriously contemplating returning home, despite the country needing between 3.1 to 4.2 million more people over the next decade.
As of January, nearly 4.3 million Ukrainians had received temporary protection status in the EU, according to the European Commission. Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic reportedly host the largest numbers.
The highest influx of Ukrainians fleeing conflict was to Russia. The UN Refugee Agency estimated up to 2.85 million people had migrated as of 2023.
Moscow has provided various paths to legal status for refugees, including naturalization. President Vladimir Putin insisted last year that ethnic Ukrainians are welcome in Russia, stating the country may be be home to as many Ukrainians as Ukraine itself.
The arrival of Ukrainians has reportedly sparked some tensions in the West and strained social safety networks. Germany’s ‘Job Turbo’ program, intended to boost employment among people from Ukraine, was deemed a failure by the media, after auditors estimated last year that it accounted for less than 1% of foreign national job placements.
Meanwhile, in Poland, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz claimed last October that many citizens are dismayed by “the sight of young men from Ukraine, driving expensive cars, and spending weekends in five-star hotels.”
