Ukrainian tech market during the war
IT industry is in better shape than we could have hoped.
It has been a month since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How’s the job market doing? Things are looking up. Ukraine surprised us again.
The job market fell by 50%
The number of hires reported fell roughly by half compared to pre-war time. But it’s not zero, and it will most probably continue to recover in the coming weeks.
There are 12,000 jobs active, compared to 28,000 at the end of January,
We expect this number to climb back to 15,000-18,000 in the next week or two as companies continue to adjust their hiring processes and set up new locations.
Job applications are up and have already surpassed pre-war numbers. The number of jobs posted fell sharply in the first week and is climbing back up nicely.
Candidates are more receptive to new opportunities (since there are fewer of them)
The number of candidates online raising steadily after the initial shock and us blocking/removing profiles from Russia and Belarus.
Candidates became better at responding to new opportunities since there are fewer of them. The response rate is up almost 2x after falling for most of 2021.
Fewer jobs and more active candidates mean job postings receive significantly more views and applications per job post.
Poll: 12% relocated to Poland or elsewhere
According to the survey we did, 12% of tech people (~25k) have already relocated out of Ukraine. Another third said they would consider relocation “if the situation worsens”. Of course, many can’t leave because of martial law.
The majority (42%) responded “won’t leave regardless” – people feel they can be more useful here and/or want to defend their country. Some are joining Armed Forces or local territorial defense. Many others volunteer and/or donate money.
Jobs with relocation are up 5x – to 10%
There are now about 1200 jobs out of 12,000 that require relocation. The most popular destination is Poland, 75% of all listings with relocation.
25% of all new jobs published last week were for locations other than Ukraine. Ukraine-only job postings share fell from 85% to slightly above 50%. Full remote jobs are now at 23%, up from 11% in February.
Djinni/DOU are expanding to Europe
Both candidates and companies are moving to Europe, and we don’t want them to leave behind their favorite tools and communities.
DOU Polska already has more than 5,000 members on our Telegram channel, while Djinni has surpassed 1,000 job postings in Poland alone.
Top of the market crashed, median salaries are steady
Too early for us to have quantitive data, but it’s probably safe to assume they have to go down – fewer job opportunities and more candidates are looking for a job. The question is how far and for which categories.
Our hunch is the top of the market will suffer the most – we are already seeing top offers in March decline to about $8000-8500/mo versus $10,000 or more in January/early February.
Median salaries remain largely the same so far–there is even an uptick in March.
One possible explanation is a ‘hiring lag’ – offers made in March are partially the result of job interviews before the war. Another – more ‘proven’ (senior) hires are getting hired in an uncertain market, keeping the average high.
The following chart is a little complicated, but the data is fascinating.
We track changes in salary expectations for candidates currently open for opportunities on Djinni. About two weeks into the war the candidates stopped ‘adjusting up’ their salary expectation, probably because inbound dried up. It started recovering since then.
Companies offering remote jobs are likely to have leverage and/or demand a discount to compensate for the risk of hiring in Ukraine–we don’t see this in data yet.
We’ll know more in a few weeks.
The market is recovering fast–will it last?
The biggest companies try to shift their hiring to neighboring countries like Hungary or Poland. Others continue hiring in Ukraine, albeit at a much slower pace. Amazingly, there were no significant layoffs.
According to a survey at DOU.ua, 85-90% of employees are “back at work.”
Working conditions may vary from okay to terrible but work gets done and projects move forward–everyone understands that we can’t win this war without a working economy.
Morale is very high.
The key marketplaces metrics, like jobs posted or contacts made, are raising 20-30% per week. So far it looks promising and we’ll know more in a few weeks.
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Conclusion
IT exports are one of the least affected industries that will bring much-needed export revenue to Ukraine. Pandemic also helped, by teaching everyone remote can and does work.
We’re incredibly grateful to our customers and partners in Europe and US/Canada who were very accommodating during this time and trusted companies to fulfill their obligations.
The war Russia is waging is a war against the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state we can’t afford to lose. And we won’t.
We’ve prepared a list of vetted NGOs and goverment accounts if you want to support Ukrainian army and/or provide humanatiran aid. And of course – keep hiring! Ukraine needs it now.
Please help us spread the word and get in touch on LinkedIn.
Thank you.
Разом до перемоги!