by Guy Standing
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Structural Characteristics of Ukrainian Industry in 1994
3. Capacity Utilisation in I 992-94
4. Labour Surplus and "Hidden Unemployment" in Ukrainian industry
5. Redundancies and Employment Decline
6. Visible Underemployment
7. Vacancies and Labour Turnover
8. Job Restructuring
9. The Changing Position of Women: Prospects of Marginalisation
10. The Impact of Restructuring on Older Workers
11. Changes in Wages, Earnings and Benefits
12. Skill Formation and the Erosion of Training
13. Concluding Remarks
Introduction
Ukraine was a crucial part of the Soviet economic system, and as such was severely affected by its dissolution. It was particularly integrated into the 'militaryindustrial complex, although across most industrial sectors the degree of bs,kward and forward linkages was considerable. Since Independence in 1991
Ukraine's economy has lunged into what might be described as hyper-stagflation, in which output has shrunk by up to 50"% and in which inflation in 1993 alone was over 10,000"%. To man observers, during this period policymaking for the essential restructuring ofproduction and distribution seemed almost paralysed, with some modest reforms in some areas being held back by inertia elsewhere.
For economic restructuring to succeed in arresting the decline and in beginning the long process of economic regeneration, what happens at the micro-econonic level ofthe enterprise is crucial. Relatively little is known about the impact ofthe economic changes and limited restructuring policies on industrial enterprises, and in particular little is known about the impact on employment and labour practices, or of what changes are most urgently required in the labour market sphere. Raising productivity will be a key to economic regeneration, and it is widely recognised that labour productivity in Ukrainian industry has been very low and declining. Oflicial data have suggested that although employment has declined, it has done so by much less than output. And, unbelievably, as of mid-1994, the re stered unemployment rate had remained below 1 %. The reliability ofsuch figures and related labour market trends are considered in detail elsewhere.1 Whatever they reveal, there is ample scope for concern that labour market deterioration is accelerating.
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