KYIV: After spending years in what she described as “boring, sedentary” roles in the offices of several Ukrainian companies, Liliia Shulha landed her dream job as a truck driver with Ukraine’s leading retailer, Fozzy Group.
“I always dreamed about big cars. Instead of (playing with) dolls, I drove cars when I was a child,” she told Reuters.
“Now the situation is such that they take people without experience and they train. I was lucky,” said Shulha, 40, wearing a company uniform in front of a large truck.
As the war with Russia drains the labor force, businesses are trying to cover critical shortages by hiring more women in traditionally male-dominated roles and turning to teenagers, students and older workers.
With millions of people, mostly women and children, abroad after fleeing the war, and tens of thousands of men mobilized into the army, the jobs crisis could endanger economic growth and a post-war recovery, analysts say.
Ukraine has lost over a quarter of its workforce since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, central bank data showed.
Nearly 60 percent of businesses said finding skilled workers was their main challenge, an economy ministry survey of over 3,000 companies showed.
“The situation is indeed critical,” said Tetiana Petruk, chief sustainability officer at steel company Metinvest, one of Ukraine’s largest employers with a workforce of about 45,000. It has about 4,000 vacancies.
“The staff deficit that we feel has an impact on our production,” Petruk told Reuters in an online interview.
“We are not the only ones who feel the staff shortages, all companies in the regions feel that, including our contractors.”
Reuters spoke to representatives of nine Ukrainian companies, from big industrial firms to retail groups and small private entrepreneurs. All said staff shortages and a growing mismatch of skills were big challenges.
Businesses said they were changing recruitment and business practices, automating, rotating existing staff and expanding their job descriptions, re-hiring retirees and offering more benefits, especially for younger workers.
They have also had to increase wages. The average monthly wage is now about 20,000 hryvnias ($470) compared to about 14,500 a year ago.
“There is a noticeable shift away from gender and age bias in candidate selection as employers adjust criteria to attract needed employees,” said the Kyiv School of Economics. “This trend also extends to entrepreneurship, where the share of female entrepreneurs is growing significantly.”
More women
Male-dominated industries are more affected by staff shortages, the central bank said.
The construction sector, transport, mining and others have all suffered because of military mobilization, for which men aged 25 to 60 are eligible. To keep the economy running, the government provides full or partial deferrals for critical companies.
In the energy and weapons production sectors, 100 percent of staff are eligible for draft deferral. In some other sectors, firms can retain 50 percent of male staff. But the process to secure deferral is long and complicated.
As the government toughened mobilization rules this year, the number of men preferring informal employment — allowing them to stay off public data records — grew, some enterprises said.
In the agricultural southern region of Mykolayiv, women are being trained as tractor drivers. Women are also increasingly working as tram and truck drivers, coal miners, security guards and warehouse workers, companies say.
“We are offering training and jobs for women who have minimal experience,” said Lyubov Ukrainets, human resources director at Silpo, part of Fozzy Group.
Including Shulha, the company has six female truck drivers and is more actively recruiting women for other jobs previously dominated by men, including loaders, meat splitters, packers and security guards.
The share of female employees is growing in industries such as steel production. Petruk said female staff accounted for about 30-35 percent of Metinvest’s workforce and the company now hired women for some underground jobs. Metinvest was unable to provide comparative figures for before the war.
Some other women are unable or unwilling to join the workforce because of a lack of childcare. Shulha, who works 15-day stretches on the road, has moved back in with her parents to ensure care for her 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter.
Young people
Businesses and economists expect labor market challenges to persist. Employers are turning their attention to young people by offering training, job experience and targeted benefit packages.
Metinvest, which previously focused on students, is now increasingly working with professional colleges, Petruk said.
Silpo is more actively hiring teenagers for entry-level jobs in supermarkets and has launched a specialized internship program for students.
Mobile phone operator Vodafone repackaged its youth program, creating an opportunity for about 50 teenagers in 12 cities to get their first job experience.
“We want to offer the first proper experience of the official job to this young audience. Another objective is to build a talent pool,” said Ilona Voloshyna of Vodafone Retail.
“Also we want to understand the youth,” she said in a Vodafone shop in Kyiv as six teenagers consulted with visitors.
The government and foreign partners have launched several programs to help Ukrainians reskill.
“We provide the opportunity for everyone at state expense to obtain a new profession which is in demand on the labor market, or to raise their professional level,” said Tetiana Berezhna, a deputy economy minister.
Ukraine businesses hire more women and teens as labor shortages bite
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Ukraine businesses hire more women and teens as labor shortages bite
- Companies hire more women and young people to fill gaps
- War and mobilization have hollowed out workforce
12-year-old boy youngest to be sentenced over UK riots
- The boy had earlier admitted to a charge of violent disorder in the town of Southport on July 31
- District Judge Wendy Lloyd sentenced the boy Tuesday to a three-month curfew order and a 12-month referral order, which requires him to commit to a rehabilitative program
LONDON: A 12-year-old boy who threw stones at police during rioting outside a mosque has become the youngest person to be sentenced so far over far-right riots that erupted in England this summer.
The boy, who can’t be identified because of his age, had earlier admitted to a charge of violent disorder in the town of Southport on July 31.
District Judge Wendy Lloyd sentenced the boy Tuesday to a three-month curfew order and a 12-month referral order, which requires him to commit to a rehabilitative program.
She told the boy the riots had “shaken society to the core.” “It was an angry mob and you chose to be part of it,” she said.
Rioting in Southport kicked off soon after a stabbing attack at a dance class in the town that left three young girls dead. False rumors spread online that the suspect in the attack was an asylum-seeker.
The boy was part of a crowd of hundreds of rioters who set a police van on fire and tried to storm the Southport Islamic Society Mosque.
The violence quickly spread around towns and cities around the country, but the unrest fizzled out after the swift charging and sentencing of those found to be involved.
Police have made more than 1,000 arrests and brought more than 800 charges.
Budapest and Poland’s Wroclaw reinforce river banks ahead of more flooding in Central Europe
- Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria
- Around 20 deaths were reported in the flooding, which followed heavy rainfall but the full human cost was still not clear
WARSAW: Soldiers and firefighters used sandbags to reinforce river embankments and delivered food and drinking water to cut-off communities as the worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes.
Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Around 20 deaths were reported in the flooding, which followed heavy rainfall but the full human cost was still not clear. Casualties have been reported in Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
In some areas, the waters were receding, leaving behind mounds of debris. As reports of looting came in, government and military authorities vowed to crack down on perpetrators. Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, said the military was deploying soldiers equipped with night vision and thermal imaging devices to support the police in areas where people had to leave for higher ground.
“Looters, night and lack of electricity will no longer be your ally,” he tweeted late Monday.
Other places braced for the worst yet to come, including two Central European gems: Budapest, the Hungarian capital on the Danube River, and Wroclaw, a city in southwestern Poland on the Oder River which boasts a Gothic cathedral and other historic landmarks.
Hungary deployed soldiers to reinforce barriers along the Danube as thousands of volunteers filled sandbags in dozens of riverside settlements.
In Budapest, authorities closed the lower quays, which were expected to be breached by rising waters. The lower half of the city’s iconic Margaret Island was also closed.
In Wroclaw, firefighters and soldiers worked through the night to reinforce river embankments with sandbags. The city zoo, located on the Oder, appealed for volunteers to fill sandbags on Tuesday morning.
“We and our animals will be extremely grateful for your help,” the zoo said.
The city said it expected the flood wave to peak there around Friday, though some had predicted that would happen sooner. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with a crisis team early Tuesday and said there are contradictory forecasts from meteorologists.
Tusk’s government has declared a state of natural disaster across southern Poland.
To the south of Wroclaw, residents spent the night fighting to save Nysa, a town of 44,000 people, after the Nysa Klodzka River broke its banks the day before. Mayor Kordian Kolbiarz said 2,000 “women, men, children, the elderly” came out to try to save their town from the rising waters, forming a human chain that passed sandbags to the river bank.
“We simply … did everything we could,” Kolbiarz wrote on Facebook. “This chain of people fighting for our Nysa was incredible. Thank you. We fought for Nysa. Our home. Our families. Our future.”
Later on Tuesday, authorities in Nysa said the city center had been saved from the flooding.
In Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, the deputy mayor for the environment, Jakub Mrva, said the level of the Danube had peaked and would slowly decrease. He said that mobile barriers had saved the historic center, but that there was still damage, including to tram lines.
“We also observed major damage at the zoo, which is flooded, and there is relatively high damage in the city forests of Bratislava, where many trees have perished,” Mrva told The Associated Press in an interview, speaking next to the flooded banks of the Danube.
In the Czech Republic, waters have been receding in the two hardest-hit northeast regions. The government approved the deployment of 2,000 troops to help with clean-up efforts. The damage is expected to reach billions of euros.
The Czech government also scrambled to help local authorities organize regional elections on Friday and Saturday as several schools and other buildings serving as polling stations were badly damaged. However, a planned evacuation of some 1,000 in the town of Veseli nad Luznici could be postponed as the waters had not reached critical levels so far.
Afghanistan reopens its embassy in Oman, the Taliban say
- This is latest sign of growing inclusion of Taliban among Gulf countries
- Last month the United Arab Emirates accepted a Taliban ambassador
DUBAI: Afghanistan’s Embassy in Oman has reopened, an official in Kabul said Tuesday, the latest sign of the growing inclusion of the Taliban among Gulf Arab countries following the United Arab Emirates’ acceptance of a Taliban ambassador last month.
The development also comes after the Taliban said in July that they no longer recognize diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government. Most countries still have not accepted the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.
According to Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Kabul, the embassy in Muscat, Oman’s capital, resumed operations on Sunday.
There was no immediate confirmation from Omani authorities and no reports from the sultanate’s state-run news agency about the embassy’s reopening.
“The work of the embassy is carried out regularly by diplomats of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said Takal, using the Taliban name for their government.
“The resumption of embassy activities in cooperation with the host country will play a constructive role in strengthening the political, economic, social and religious relations between Kabul and Muscat,” Takal added.
The Foreign Ministry said that 39 diplomatic missions are now under Taliban control.
There is a deepening divide in the international community on how to deal with the Taliban, who have been in power for three years and face no internal or external opposition. And even though the Taliban and the West remain at loggerheads, Afghanistan’s rulers have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.
Last month, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in Afghanistan in the highest-level visit by a foreign official since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
As part of expanding their reach, the Taliban have moved to take control of the country’s embassies and consulates overseas.
The embassies in London and Oslo announced their closures this month, while others in Europe and beyond have continued to operate.
Indonesia launches national Islamic finance center to boost local halal industries
- Center to serve as platform to develop local industries, from Muslim fashion to halal tourism and food
- Indonesia ranked 3rd in 2023 Global Islamic Economy Indicator, behind Saudi Arabia and Malaysia
JAKARTA: President Joko Widodo opened on Tuesday the Indonesia Islamic Financial Center, a new special area in Jakarta dedicated to strengthening the country’s Shariah economy and helping local industries tap into the global halal market.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, with about 87 percent of its 270 million population professing Islam. Its government has lately been working to further develop the local halal industry to harness the potential of the domestic market.
“Indonesia has a huge chance, a potential to become a global halal hub, the center of the global halal ecosystem, as long as we strengthen our Shariah economy ecosystem,” Widodo said during the opening ceremony.
“Indonesia’s Shariah banks, an important part of the Shariah economy ecosystem, must continue to grow with modern management, must be competitive (and) professional to reach the potential markets we have — our 236 million Muslim population — while also growing to become the standard of Shariah banking in Indonesia, in the ASEAN region, and in the world.”
The IIFC comprises Indonesia’s biggest Islamic bank, Bank Syariah Indonesia, and Danareksa, a state-owned holding company.
The center will serve as a platform for the development of local industries — from Muslim fashion to halal tourism and food.
“(The center) will support all aspects so we don’t lose our potential to other regions or countries,” Widodo said.
BSI’s tower at IIFC — the construction of which is to be completed next year — will be a “center for business and halal ecosystem literacy,” the bank’s director Hery Gunardi said.
“We are ready to develop and accelerate the nation’s goal of becoming a sustainable global hub and establishing an Islamic ecosystem.”
Indonesia was ranked third in the 2023 Global Islamic Economy Indicator, which measures the strength of the Islamic economy in 73 countries. It was placed just behind Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
“This area will become a platform to strengthen the Shariah economy ecosystem that will also boost the growth of our national economy,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said.
Through the halal industry, among other avenues, “Indonesia has great potential to become the largest Islamic economy country in the world,” he added.
Nigeria bus crash kills at least 25 children on religious trip
- Organizers of the religious pilgrimage gave a higher toll of 40, with 31 injured
- The children were from Kwandare village and heading to the nearby town of Saminaka for the annual Maulud festivities marking the birth of the Prophet
KANO, Nigeria: A bus carrying Muslim faithful celebrating the birth of Prophet Muhammad crashed in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, killing at least 25 children, an official told AFP Tuesday.
Organizers of the religious pilgrimage gave a higher toll of 40, with 31 injured.
The accident occurred on Sunday when the speeding bus overloaded with young adherents of the Tijjaniyya Sufi order lost control and crashed into a truck in Lere district, Kabiru Nadabo, head of the local office of Nigeria’s road safety agency, FRSC, said.
“The bus was overloaded with 63 children and the driver was speeding recklessly when he lost control and rammed into an articulated truck,” Nadabo said.
“Fifteen of them died on the spot while 48 injured were taken to various hospitals, among which 10 died the following day, raising the death toll to 25,” he said.
The children were from Kwandare village and heading to the nearby town of Saminaka for the annual Maulud festivities marking the birth of the Prophet, said Nadabo.
He said the death toll could have changed since the injured were taken to hospitals in various locations and he did not get further updates.
Dikko Dahiru, one of the organizers of the trip, said 40 children were killed in the accident, while 31 were injured.
“The bus was carrying 71 passengers and 36 died instantly while four more died in hospital the next day,” said Dahiru, whose nephew was among the dead.
“Thirty-one were taken to hospitals with severe injuries, 11 of them in critical condition,” he said.
Road accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly maintained roads due largely to speeding and disregard for traffic rules.
