Ukraine’s labour market has been surprisingly resilient during the war with Russia

Construction workers repairing a road in Kyiv, Ukraine, in March 2026. aileenchik / Shutterstock Russia’s war in Ukraine has generated one of the largest labour supply shocks in recent history. From an estimated pre-war population of 41 million people, close to 6 million have now left Ukraine. This outward migration alone has reduced the country’s worker population by roughly 3 million people. It has been compounded by the mobilisation of more than 700,000 Ukrainian citizens into the army. At…