13 August 2026
(PHOTO: konkurent.ua)
<span><span><span><span><span><span>In the first 7 months of 2026, 182 teenagers were officially employed in the Odesa region. Only one of them was between the ages of 14 and 15.</span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span><span><span><span><span><span>These figures were provided by the OpenDataBot platform. </span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span><span><span><span><span><span>In the Mykolaiv region, 33 minors are officially employed, and in the Kherson region, six. </span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span><span><span><span><span><span>OpenDataBot notes that, overall, the number of minors officially entering the workforce is increasing. Following a decline in 2022, there was a significant increase. By 2024, the figure was already 9% higher than it was before the full-scale war. In 2025, the number of officially employed teenagers rose by another 18% to 23,817.</span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span><span><span><span><span><span>At the same time, children aged 14–15 are almost never employed. While hundreds of teenagers in this age group were officially employed before the full-scale war, in 2025 there were only five such cases. Specifically, four children in the Mykolaiv region and one child in Zakarpattia. </span></span></span></span></span></span>
According to observations by analysts at the Work.ua platform, since the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainian companies have begun to seek out young employees much more actively. According to their statistics, while employers reviewed only 2.5% of the contact information in the resumes of underage job seekers in 2021, this figure reached 4.5% by 2025. This trend remains relevant this year as well. The State Employment Service helps minors find jobs.
Ukrainian law allows for the formal employment of young people starting at age 16, although with parental consent, 15-year-olds may also perform work duties, and students as young as 14 are permitted to take on light part-time work outside of school hours.
For minors, the weekly work limit is a maximum of 36 hours for those aged 16–18 and up to 24 hours for workers aged 15–16 or students aged 14–15 during school breaks. In addition, young people under 18 are protected from heavy, hazardous, or night work, overtime, and weekend shifts; specifically, employment must be based on a written agreement and a prior medical examination, and excludes any probationary periods.
As of June 1, 2026, wage arrears at enterprises in the Odesa region had reached 358 million 63 thousand hryvnias. For the most part, these are enterprises located in the Odesa district.
Юлія Калабайда