The rising demand for agriculture-related jobs is one more sign the sector is growing. Already a world agricultural powerhouse, the nation’s agricultural exports doubled in the last five years. The sector is fast catching up with the nation’s other flagship economic driver, metallurgy, which is facing lower demand for its products.
Still, the
sector is in dire need of modern farming techniques, machinery and high-quality
specialists that can harness the upgrades. If qualified professionals don’t
fill the void, Ukraine’s agricultural development could be stinted.
According
to recruitment website rabota.ua based in Kyiv, the number of vacancies on the agricultural
labor market rose by more than half in the fourth quarter of 2012 when compared
to the same period of 2011. And the spike was above the labor market’s average.
There is considerable
growing demand for sales managers of plant protectants, fertilizers and seeds, accounting
for 35 percent of all required agriculture jobs. They are followed by sales
managers of agriculture machinery (15 percent) and agronomists (13 percent).
Top
agribusiness managers are also wanted, including agricultural products sales
managers, agriculture machinery engineers, tree and shrub planting specialists,
animal technicians, veterinarians, land surveyors, rabota.ua found.
Thus, today
wages in agriculture nearly match those in construction and mining. “Executive
and middle managers in these sectors have commensurate salaries,” says Olena
Gongol from AgroCareer recruitment website.
She added
that big agriholdings sometimes make salaries higher for their specialists that
smaller farms can afford.
Yet the
rise of Ukraine’s agribusiness isn’t a welcome sign for everyone. Workers
further down the ladder in agriculture are paid less compared with other
economic sectors, says Gongol.
More than a
quarter of vacancies are in Kyiv, followed by Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Khmelnytsky
cities, which comprise just 5-7 percent
of the general number of vacancies in the agrarian sector.
The Ukrainian
agricultural labor market also features a strong presence of seasonal workers. About
30 percent of employers hire personnel only for the farming season. And some seasonal
employees don’t mind that, being attracted by much higher wages that jump
exactly before the season starts, says Gongol.
But even money
sometimes can’t help employers find hired help. The agricultural sector faces
the problem of a “missed generation.”
“The whole generation fell out. There are only
a few professionals aged around 40 that are strongly wanted, as they have
enough agricultural experience, innovative thinking and knowledge of foreign languages,”
says Gongol. “Young people can speak English, are full of energy but lack working
knowledge, while most people over 50 can boast nothing but experience”.
Big
companies with foreign investments are more anxious about the status-quo though,
this is, apparently, a problem affecting the entire agricultural field.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected]
