The top three obstacles to doing business remained unchanged in December 2025, despite escalating security risks. These are the findings of the 44th Monthly Survey of 485 industrial enterprises, conducted by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) from December 18 to 31.
"Labor shortage" remains the leading challenge. Compared to November, the share of businesses citing this obstacle rose slightly from 61% to 62%.
In December, the difficulty of finding qualified personnel intensified, with 55.6% of companies reporting challenges in recruiting skilled workers (up from 52.2% in November). Meanwhile, finding unskilled labor remains a challenge for only 34% of businesses (down from 35.3%).
The second position is held by the "unsafe work environment" obstacle. Amidst ongoing Russian missile and drone attacks, this factor saw the most significant increase—rising by 8 percentage points to 57%. This is one of the highest levels recorded since October 2024 (62%) and July 2025 (57%).
The main impediments to doing business in wartime,
% respondents
“Lack of personnel” maintains leadership in the list of obstacles
"There has been a substantial increase in the absolute value of this indicator, and the gap with the top-ranked obstacle has narrowed. This is clearly linked to the intensified shelling of energy infrastructure and the worsening security situation—businesses have become more concerned about operational safety," noted Yevhen Anhel, Senior Research Fellow at the IER.
Over the past two months, the gap between micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) regarding security concerns has closed, with figures reaching similar levels in December—52%, 54%, and 52%, respectively. At the same time, large businesses feel targeted by attacks to a greater extent (70%).
"Regionally, high levels of concern regarding operational safety persist in frontline areas—Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions—as well as in central Ukraine. Businesses in the West report safety concerns much less frequently," added Yevhen Anhel.
"Disruptions in electricity, water, and heat supply" (42%, down 1 p.p. from November) remains in third place, now shared with "rising prices for raw materials and goods" (up 3 p.p.).
The "decrease in demand for products/services" became less urgent (down 6 p.p.). Conversely, "supply chain disruptions" intensified (up 5 p.p.), as did "difficulties in transporting raw materials or finished products" (up 1 p.p.). Traditionally, corruption and pressure from law enforcement are not considered significant problems compared to other obstacles.
A deeper analysis of November data shows that 58% of businesses (up from 22% in September and 42% in October) were forced to temporarily suspend operations due to power outages. Specifically, 20% of enterprises lost 11–25% of their working time, while 32% lost between 1% and 10%. The most critical situation was observed among 6% of enterprises that were idle for 26–50% of the time. Meanwhile, only 6% of businesses experienced no outages at all (down from 23% in October), and 36% operated continuously despite the blackouts.
Problems with finding skilled workers are growing, but no changes for unskilled workers
Average working time losses in November stood at 8%, following 9% in October. "Certain regional and sectoral differences persist. The most difficult situation is in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where working time losses averaged 28%, followed by Sumy and Zhytomyr at 20%, Chernihiv at 18%, and Khmelnytskyi at 15%," stated Yevhen Anhel.
The situation worsened most significantly for micro-businesses (14% working time loss), while large businesses experienced the smallest losses (5%). By sector, the largest losses were in the production of building materials (13%), and the smallest in woodworking (5%).
The majority of enterprises have already secured energy autonomy. Generators (diesel, gasoline, gas) are the most popular choice, installed by 66% of respondents. Battery energy storage systems—both industrial BESS and portable units like EcoFlows or battery-connected inverters—are also common (23%). Other solutions include Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) (10%), solar power plants (7%), and cogeneration units (6%).
"Only 10% of enterprises have not installed any technical equipment. However, among micro-enterprises, this figure is 22%, and among small businesses 13%, whereas for large and medium-sized enterprises, it is only 3% and 6% respectively," emphasized Yevhen Anhel.
The New Monthly Enterprises Survey (#NRES) by the IER involves up to 500 Ukrainian industrial enterprises located in 21 of the 27 regions of Ukraine. The survey has been conducted monthly since May 2022 as part of the project "Ukraine's Integration into the EU: A Dialogue Built on Facts," supported by the International Renaissance Foundation.
Video presentation of the December survey results (in Ukrainian):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gau2b1e-pms
All previous surveys since July 2022:
http://www.ier.com.ua/en/proekt_dilova_dumka/NRES_Presentations
