Key labour market challenges of the country remain low employment rates with a pronounced gender gap, high labour emigration, elevated youth unemployment and inactivity, and a notable skills mismatch. The global health crisis has negatively affected Ukraine’s performance in several of these areas and made addressing structural labour market issues even more urgent. Key challenges in the area of working conditions and social protection are a lack of prevention culture concerning safety and health at work, increased levels of informality, high wage arrears, a notable gender pay gap, and insufficient coverage and financial sustainability of the social insurance system. Social dialogue needs to be intensified covering key topics of labour and social policies.

The DWCP aims to address challenges where the ILO has key technical expertise to offer. The three priorities for the 2020–24 programme are 1) improved social dialogue, 2) inclusive and productive employment, and 3) improved working conditions and social protection.