- In October, 59% of businesses cited a lack of workforce as the main obstacle to their activities. At the same time, problems with finding personnel have slightly decreased.
- Interruptions in electricity, water, and heat supply are returning as a serious limitation: in October, 19% of enterprises complained about them, compared to 4% in September.
- In October, 21% of respondents negatively assessed the government's economic policy.
In October, there was a weakening of problems with finding personnel: only 46.5% of companies reported difficulties in finding qualified workers (in September, 52.8%), while the search for unskilled workers remains a challenge for 34% of businesses (down from 39.6%). This is evidenced by the results of the 42nd monthly survey, which the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) conducted from October 22 to 31 among 465 industrial enterprises.
The labor shortage in October remained the top obstacle to doing business in wartime, although the figure decreased by 1 percentage point to 59%.
"In second place, we have the danger of working – this obstacle was noted by 49% of businesses, down from 51% in September. And in third place is the obstacle of 'rising prices for raw materials, materials, and goods,' the absolute value of which decreased from 55% to 47%," said Yevhen Anhel, a Senior Research Fellow at the IER.
The obstacle of "it is dangerous to work" has been among the top problems for businesses during the war since the end of 2023 and has consistently remained near the 50% mark. Regional patterns persist: the worst situation is in the Zaporizhzhia region, where almost 100% of businesses pointed to this problem.
"At the same time, the western regions, according to businesses, remain safer," noted Yevhen Anhel.
Among other problems, the expert drew attention to a decrease in demand for products and services (27% after 25% in September) and logistical difficulties (23% after 18%) with the transportation of raw materials or finished goods within Ukraine.
"The most significant change occurred regarding the obstacle of 'interruptions with electricity, water, or heat supply': back in September, 4% of respondents mentioned it, and in October it was 19%," noted Yevhen Anhel. This is the highest since January 2025, when 19% of respondents also complained about this problem. In the list of obstacles, "power outages" rose from 11th to 6th place in October.
A more detailed analysis of the September data indicates that 22% of enterprises were forced to temporarily suspend work due to power outages, and on average, businesses lost 5% of their working time – the highest since February 2025. A more significant increase in lost working time is expected based on the results of October.
The greatest losses of working time due to power outages were experienced by enterprises in the Dnipropetrovsk (18%), Zhytomyr (18%), Sumy (11%), Kyiv (9%), and Chernihiv (7%) regions.
The share of neutral assessments of the government's economic policy has grown again — to 65% in October — due to those who were undecided. The share of positive responses remains at only 4%. "21% of respondents negatively assess the government's economic policy – one in five surveyed," said Yevhen Anhel.
The New Monthly Enterprises Survey (#NRES) from the IER involves up to 500 Ukrainian industrial enterprises located in 21 of Ukraine's 27 regions. The survey has been conducted monthly since May 2022.
Video presentation of the October survey results (in Ukrainian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdu08mnUb6g
All previous surveys since July 2022 http://www.ier.com.ua/en/proekt_dilova_dumka/NRES_Presentations
