The Ministry of Economy is working to remove barriers in the labour market to ensure dignity and economic independence for all social groups. This was stated by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, while commenting on the Government’s adoption of the Action Plan for 2024-2025 to implement the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030.

“The Ministry of Economy is working to remove barriers in the labour market to ensure dignity and economic independence for people who need it most. Today, 43% of the unemployed are people from social groups that have difficulty accessing the labour market. That is why we have introduced a number of programmes to help overcome these difficulties: we support entrepreneurship, retraining for more in-demand skills, and encourage employers to recruit more actively people with disabilities, veterans and internally displaced persons. Everyone who wants to exercise their right to decent work should have the opportunity to do so,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

In 2023, the Ministry of Economy will continue to intensify the development of entrepreneurship through the eRobota project. In particular, it plans to provide 10,000 microgrants for business start-up and development, which will create about 20,000 new jobs. Some 90,000 Ukrainians will have the opportunity to retrain for new specialities at the vocational training centres of the State Employment Service and receive a voucher for training.

In addition, we are developing active employment programmes that provide financial incentives for employers to hire people who may have difficulty finding a job. Currently, the Ministry of Economy has developed the Procedures for compensating employers for the costs of adapting workplaces and employing people with disabilities. The adoption of these acts will help expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities and ensure their right to work.

It is expected that 35,000 employers will use active employment programmes to provide jobs for 60,000 people.

As a reminder, the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030 was adopted in 2021 on the initiative of Olena Zelenska. It provides for the creation of a barrier-free environment in Ukraine in 6 main areas:

• Social and civic inclusion, which provides equal opportunities for all people and social groups to participate in the life of communities and the state;
• Educational inclusion – creating equal opportunities and free access to education, including lifelong learning;
• Economic inclusion – creating conditions and opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship for young people, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, etc.;
• Information inclusion – conditions under which people, regardless of their functional impairments or communication abilities, have access to information in different formats and using technologies that take into account their needs and abilities;
• Physical inclusion – creating an environment where public buildings and public spaces, transport and services are physically accessible to all social groups;
• Digital inclusion – ensuring access to information, communication, public and other services online for all social groups, including the elderly, people with disabilities, people living in rural areas, etc.