Several key economic sectors in Ukraine expect to reduce the number of employees.

According to NBU data, industrial enterprises are predicting a deterioration in the results of their economic activity for the second month in a row. The reasons for this are a decrease in the volume of export-import operations, increased logistics costs due to the blocked borders, and high fuel prices.

As a result, 78% of businesses plan to keep the current number of employees, 6% will hire new ones, and 15% plan layoffs.

For the third month in a row, construction enterprises were the most pessimistic among economic sectors about the economic results of their activities in the near future, considering the seasonal drop in economic activity, the narrowing of investment demand, and the lack of qualified personnel.

At the same time, expectations to reduce the total number of employees increased. In particular, businesses that will maintain their current staffing level will remain at 70%, those who anticipate newly hired employees at 5%, and those planning layoffs at 25%.

As for the trades, new hires will prevail over dismissals – 9% against 8%. Nevertheless, most companies in this sector do not intend to change the number of their employees – 84%.