If one takes a look at the statistics, one gains an obvious impression that most plants have personnel who are over 40. Surprisingly, most of the personnel are made up of pensioners.  

Currently there is an acute shortage of young personnel at large industrial enterprises of different sectors, starting from machinery manufacturing and metallurgical industry and down on to chemical and power industry.  As of now, most of the jobs are taken by pensioners. Their experience and professionalism are certainly valued. However, the question of young personnel is becoming critical. Should this tendency prevail, large enterprises will soon have to bring their production to a halt.

The personnel percentage of some of these enterprises is critical due to the fact that 100% of their personnel is made up of pensioners. The average age of most of such employees across Ukraine is 51. A mere 10% of them are under 35.

With every year the number of pensioners employed at large plants is increasing. This goes for both ordinary workers and for management. Such a tendency may be explained not only by the fact that people don’t want to work in this field, but also by their education. The main thing that is taken into consideration while recruiting people for such plants is at least their vocational secondary education. It is odd that even young specialists with relevant education start learning things anew as soon as they land a job at a plant. This has to do with the fact that the knowledge that they had acquired before does not correspond with the plant reality.  Young specialists possess extensive theoretical knowledge that is irrelevant for the job in most of the cases. Also, one can’t help noticing the fact that they absolutely lack practical skills. Educational institutions fail to keep up adjusting their curricula to the market needs and to the internal needs of the enterprises. This goes both for employees with higher education and with the vocational secondary. There is also a huge shortage of engineering and technical specialists.

The Ministry of Education and Science has been involved in the process of finding a solution to this problem. The Ministry has been urged to popularize the relevant qualifications, to allocate more state-funded places at universities, to motivate and encourage young generations to work in this field, to support ambitious employees to upgrade their skills, and to provide opportunities for career development.

It is certainly difficult nowadays to encourage the youths to work at a plant. However, if the state provides necessary support and education opportunities, everything is possible.