Will Bangladeshi workers dominate Ukraine's labor market in furniture production? Exploring the impact of Asian migrants on the job landscape in Ukraine.

On January 25, the head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, Myroslav Biletsky, announced that the state enterprise "Lamella," which specializes in furniture manufacturing, wants to hire 160 workers from Bangladesh. This is particularly due to the increase in production capacity, which has created additional job openings.

The enterprise's commercial director, Yaroslav Shcherban, noted that Ukrainians are reluctant to take jobs because they need to register with the military recruitment center. Therefore, "Lamella" is looking forward to hiring workers from Bangladesh.

"We have a reservation for 50% of men, while 50 employees from the company have been mobilized and are currently serving, and there are also injured individuals who have already been demobilized. There are women replacing men, but some types of work women cannot physically perform, for instance, there is a table top that measures two meters; it needs to be lifted and placed on a machine for further processing. Therefore, the enterprise is indeed searching for labor — one of the international recruiting agencies offered us to recruit workers from Bangladesh," Shcherban explained.

He mentioned that workers from Bangladesh are currently in the process of obtaining visas. Meanwhile, they are being offered an average salary of 25,000 hryvnias at the enterprise. Currently, the company employs 430 people.

Labor Migrants in Ukraine: Will Foreigners Conquer the Labor Market?

He pointed out that there is a shortage of labor resources in Europe and Ukraine. At the "Lamella" enterprise, workers from Bangladesh have been offered a salary of 25,000 hryvnias.

"A resident of Bangladesh can earn 25,000 hryvnias in Ukraine. The minimum wage in Poland, which is located nearby, is 47,000 hryvnias. In other words, if this resident of Bangladesh travels and gets a job in Poland, he could immediately earn almost 1.8 times more. Or he could go to Germany, where the minimum wage is now approaching 100,000 hryvnias, which is four times more," explained Vasily Voskoboynik.

According to him, it is essential to understand that Ukraine "is not in some unique world." He believes that foreigners will not come to work in Ukraine in large numbers. Moreover, he thinks that foreigners working at Ukrainian enterprises will eventually realize they can try their luck in other countries and get jobs in Poland or Germany to earn more money.

"I am confident that after the end of hostilities, when the borders are open, and our businessmen and entrepreneurs can start attracting labor migrants from other countries, they will be surprised to find that labor migrants are sought not only in Ukraine and not just by their competitors, but also by entrepreneurs from other European countries. There is indeed a shortage of labor in both Europe and Ukraine," the expert emphasized.

"There is a situation where candidates are ready to work remotely due to the activity of the military recruitment center," she reported.

Why Does Ukraine Attract Foreign Workers Instead of Its Citizens?

Vasily Voskoboynik stated that there are about two million unemployed people in Ukraine; however, 75% of businesses report a lack of labor. This is related to the outflow of a large number of Ukrainians abroad, where, according to various estimates, there are 5-7 million people. Additionally, there are about five million internally displaced persons in the country.

"In fact, we have structural unemployment in Ukraine, meaning that the qualifications of people do not meet the needs of employers. Another separate issue is that any Ukrainian who is officially employed must register with the military recruitment center. A furniture manufacturing enterprise is unlikely to be classified as a critical infrastructure business. People do not want to officially get employed because they are hiding from the military recruitment center," he noted.

According to Pashkina, Ukraine attracts workers from Bangladesh due to a significant number of unemployed Ukrainians who either have no idea about vacancies in Transcarpathia or do not wish to work there.

She pointed out that there is a shortage of workers in Ukraine, and it is unlikely that the situation will change. According to a UN forecast, by 2100, the population of Ukraine will decrease to 15.3 million.

"Considering the birth rate we have seen in recent years, which is not expected to rise in the coming years, we will realize that the percentage of youth among those 15 million will be extremely low," she said, adding that she would not dare to say that the Ukrainian labor market will survive without attracting labor migrants.

The Arrival of Labor Migrants: What Challenges Can Ukraine Face?

According to Voskoboynik, the main challenge is the misunderstanding between labor migrants and employers as well as local residents.

"We conducted a study together with the Institute of Demography and Social Quality Problems, led by Ella Libanova. We found that Ukrainians generally do not understand why we invite people here. Let's pay more money to Ukrainians, and then seemingly there will be workers," he said.

However, there will not be more workers in Ukraine because they physically do not exist. Additionally, the qualifications of some Ukrainians may not meet the requirements of enterprises.

Moreover, he pointed out that the notion that cheap labor will be brought into Ukraine is incorrect. Since the employer is obliged to cover the foreigner's flight from Bangladesh, provide housing, a translator, and a person to accompany them.

"A resident of Bangladesh is unlikely to understand that they need to go to ATB and pay not in the local currency used in Bangladesh, but in Ukrainian hryvnias. Someone has to exchange currency, take them to the store, explain where they will live, conduct safety training, explain behavior in production, and coordinate all the details of the production process itself. This means that additional people need to be involved in this process. Therefore, to say that labor migrants will be cheaper is incorrect — that will not happen. They actually cost the employer more. The only reason why the employer is forced to go this route is the shortage of people," Voskoboynik stated.

He emphasized that the process of employing foreigners in Ukraine must be conducted under state supervision. In particular, the State Labor Inspection should ensure that "enclaves of foreigners" are not created. It is essential for labor migrants to live in decent conditions and receive salaries equal to those of Ukrainians. If the wages are low, people will become desocialized, not communicate with the surrounding world, which will lead to the formation of criminal groups.

For her part, Tatyana Pashkina views the initiative to attract labor migrants positively, particularly in cases where it has become clear that the local population cannot be candidates during the expansion of an enterprise.

"There will be certain precautions regarding the fact that our people are not very tolerant of individuals from other nationalities. Simply bringing people in and providing them with jobs is, of course, a great situation, but we all remember many cases with Ukrainian labor migrants who were not very welcomed even in Poland. Consequently, if we do not implement certain preventive measures here, it is unlikely that this experience will be as successful as the employer hopes," the expert explained.

In November, the rector of the "Kyiv School of Economics," Timofey Brik, stated that Ukraine needs to think about attracting labor migrants and bringing back Ukrainians from abroad.