20 July 2021, Tuesday, 18:05 157

Shadow Wage Fund In Ukraine Estimated At UAH 0.5 Trillion Per Year - Liubchenko

Редактор: Tetiana Herasimova

First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Oleksii Liubchenko estimates the shadow wage fund in Ukraine at UAH 0.5 trillion per year.

Liubchenko said this at the Ukraine 30. Labor Resources forum, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The shadow wage fund is estimated at almost UAH 0.5 trillion per year. This is money through which we can develop strategic projects, raise wages and pensions, social standards," he said.

According to Liubchenko, in Ukraine today one officially employed person supports two unemployed.

"In 2020, according to the register of individuals-taxpayers, 11.3 million citizens of Ukraine received an official salary, almost 11 (million) did not receive any income at all, plus we have more than 11 million pensioners whose pension size depends on legally working citizens. That is, we have at the expense of one officially working two unemployed," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

He emphasized that all these categories of citizens equally enjoy public goods, medical care, education, subsidies and benefits.

Liubchenko also noted that the Ministry of Economy does not have accurate data on the number of Ukrainians working abroad, according to experts, there are two to three million of these annually.

"How many of them are - young, active, educated, who create economic growth for our neighbors? Unfortunately, it is impossible to name the exact number of our citizens who have not found themselves in Ukraine. According to expert estimates, this is from two to three million stable annually. We are leaders in Europe, but leaders in terms of the number of working-age population who work abroad," he said.

Liubchenko noted that the imbalances and systemic contradictions in the labor market were highlighted by the coronavirus crisis.

According to him, it concerns an imbalance in the demand and supply of labor, the inconsistency of the quality of education with the requests of employers, and the disparity in wages.

Liubchenko added that Ukraine and the whole world have been living in new realities for more than a year now: digitalization and a pandemic are the main factors that are now shaping new rules of the game in the labor market.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the European Business Association had previously warned that an increase in the minimum wage during the crisis could lead to an increase in the number of wages "in envelopes."

In May 2020, the National Bank noted that after the gradual lifting of quarantine restrictions, Ukrainians began to actively seek work abroad.